[iamnotsure]

One of the more surprising aspects of GHC Haskell is that it is possible to write a very high level code with performance matching or exceeding code written in a low level language, thus honoring the machine. Stream fusion for an example. Not sure if there is any other language with higher abstraction/performance ratio.

[a_wild_dandan]

JavaScript comes to mind. Its benchmarks are a wonderful testament to the immense engineering resources poured into V8.

[nequo]

V8 is very impressive. But in exchange for its speed, it needs more memory. JS code optimized for speed tends to use more memory with Node.js than optimized Haskell or OCaml code:

https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksgame/...

[hgsgm]

Unfortunately, one space leak (extremely east to accidentally create in Haskell, much harder to debug than in other languages) cancels out all those benefits.