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CRUD API Performance Comparison: C vs Python

Overview

This repository provides a performance comparison between two CRUD APIs:

  1. A C-based API built with Libmicrohttpd and SQLite3.
  2. A Python-based API built with Flask and SQLite3.

The goal is to demonstrate the performance differences between a low-level language (C) and a higher-level language (Python) for typical CRUD operations. This repository allows you to observe how each language impacts response times, making it ideal for those focused on performance optimization.

Repository Structure

crud-api-performance-comparison/
├── c_api/
│   ├── students_api.c             # Main C API file
│   ├── students_api.h             # C API header file
│   ├── students_db.c              # C database operations
│   ├── students_db.h              # C database operations header
│   ├── Makefile                   # Optional: For compiling C API
│   └── README.md                  # Documentation for C API setup and usage
├── python_api/
│   ├── app.py                     # Main Python Flask API file
│   ├── database.py                # Python database operations
│   ├── README.md                  # Documentation for Python API setup and usage
│   └── requirements.txt               # Python dependencies for easy setup
├── benchmark/
│   ├── benchmark_script.sh        # Script to benchmark both APIs with curl
│   └── results/                   # Directory to store benchmark results (CSV)
└── README.md                      # Main documentation

Setup

  1. Clone the repository:

    git clone <repository-url>
cd crud-api-performance-comparison

C API Setup

  1. Install dependencies (for Ubuntu):

    sudo apt install libsqlite3-dev libmicrohttpd-dev

    For macOS, use Homebrew:

    brew install sqlite3 libmicrohttpd

  2. Compile and run the C API:

    cd c_api
make  # or manually: gcc students_api.c students_db.c -o students_api -lsqlite3 -lmicrohttpd
./students_api

    The C API server will run on http://localhost:8888.

Python API Setup

  1. Install dependencies:

    pip install -r requirements.txt

  2. Run the Python API:

    cd python_api
python app.py

    The Python API server will run on http://localhost:5000.

Benchmarking

The benchmark_script.sh in the benchmark/ folder automates the performance testing of both APIs using curl. The script will send requests to each API’s create, read, update, and delete endpoints, capturing the time taken for each operation and saving it in a CSV file for analysis.

Running the Benchmark Script

  1. Start both the C and Python API servers in separate terminals.

  2. Run the benchmarking script:

    cd benchmark
bash benchmark_script.sh

  3. Results will be saved to benchmark/results/benchmark_results.csv.

Example CSV Output

API,Endpoint,Method,Time(s)
http://localhost:5000,create,POST,0.017229
http://localhost:8888,create,POST,0.004574
http://localhost:5000,read,GET,0.002306
http://localhost:8888,read,GET,0.000555
http://localhost:5000,update,PUT,0.003243
http://localhost:8888,update,PUT,0.001363
http://localhost:5000,delete,DELETE,0.002395
http://localhost:8888,delete,DELETE,0.001283

Results and Analysis

Performance Summary

The benchmark results show that the C-based API significantly outperforms the Python-based API in terms of response times. Here is a comparison of average times for each operation:

Operation Python API Time (s) C API Time (s) Speedup Factor (Python/C)
Create 0.017229 0.004574 ~3.8x
Read 0.002306 0.000555 ~4.2x
Update 0.003243 0.001363 ~2.4x
Delete 0.002395 0.001283 ~1.9x

Key Takeaways

  1. C is Faster: Across all CRUD operations, the C API consistently performs faster than the Python API, with a speedup factor ranging from 2x to 4x.

  2. Optimal for Resource-Constrained Environments: This speed advantage makes the C API a better choice for environments where performance and resource efficiency are critical, such as embedded systems or high-throughput applications.

  3. Python’s Ease of Development: Despite being slower, the Python API offers advantages in terms of readability, ease of development, and rapid prototyping, making it ideal for applications where development speed is more critical than performance.

Conclusion

This comparison highlights the classic trade-off between performance and development efficiency:

  • C API: Ideal for performance-critical applications.
  • Python API: Great for quick development and applications where ease of use is prioritized over raw speed.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.