[jedberg]

> and I don't have access to their code/architecture/etc

Actually, you do! :) http://code.reddit.com

But to help you out, I'll tell you that a good chunk of the expensive loops are written in C.

[apower]

Proof that static type languages are much faster than dynamic languages. Reddit has resorted to use C for speedup.

[blueben]

Proof that in this single instance, Reddit developers decided this was a suitable optimization for their codebase.

This also calls into question the original assumption, that posters believed Reddit had far too many wasteful servers to handle their service, and that it was because they use a dynamic language.

[jedberg]

Was there ever a question about that? I thought that was pretty much a fact. Of course static typed languages are faster.