Python 3 versus C gcc fastest programs by faster benchmark performance pidigits source secs mem gz cpu cpu load Python 3 3.51 10,500 386 3.50 1% 1% 0% 100% C gcc 1.75 2,728 452 1.74 1% 2% 0% 100% reverse-complement source secs mem gz cpu cpu load Python 3 16.76 1,005,252 814 20.08 65% 21% 44% 17% C gcc 1.75 994,468 1438 3.96 48% 44% 95% 44% regex-redux source secs mem gz cpu cpu load Python 3 15.56 439,964 512 27.97 25% 92% 32% 32% C gcc 1.45 152,208 1397 3.40 46% 49% 42% 100% k-nucleotide source secs mem gz cpu cpu load Python 3 79.79 250,948 1967 309.42 98% 96% 96% 99% C gcc 5.07 130,008 1506 15.25 88% 84% 58% 73% binary-trees source secs mem gz cpu cpu load Python 3 92.72 448,844 589 333.42 87% 90% 96% 87% C gcc 2.55 130,516 836 7.77 82% 66% 64% 94% fasta source secs mem gz cpu cpu load Python 3 62.88 680,736 1947 141.15 60% 56% 48% 62% C gcc 1.32 2,892 2268 5.22 100% 100% 99% 99% fannkuch-redux source secs mem gz cpu cpu load Python 3 547.23 48,052 950 2,162.70 99% 100% 97% 100% C gcc 8.72 980 910 34.43 98% 97% 100% 100% n-body source secs mem gz cpu cpu load Python 3 882.00 8,212 1196 881.81 91% 0% 1% 9% C gcc 9.17 1,228 1490 9.17 100% 0% 0% 1% spectral-norm source secs mem gz cpu cpu load Python 3 193.86 50,556 443 757.23 98% 98% 99% 99% C gcc 1.99 1,292 569 7.89 99% 99% 99% 99% mandelbrot source secs mem gz cpu cpu load Python 3 279.68 49,344 688 1,117.29 100% 100% 100% 100% C gcc 1.64 26,416 1135 6.55 100% 100% 99% 100% Python 3 Python 3.7.0 C gcc gcc (Ubuntu 7.3.0-16ubuntu3) 7.3.0 all other Python 3 programs & measurements