Classic Fortran versus C gcc fastest performance Always look at the source code. If the fastest programs are hand-written vector instructions, does the host language matter? You might be more interested in the less optimised programs — more seconds, less gz source code. fannkuch-redux source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #6 2.10 11,236 1576 8.34 C gcc #4 14.04 11,236 1183 14.03 C gcc #5 7.53 11,224 910 29.37 Classic Fortran 38.62 10,908 599 38.62 C gcc #3 39.56 11,248 567 39.56 Classic Fortran #3 10.26 11,160 1158 40.95 C gcc 42.02 11,244 508 42.02 C gcc #2 11.12 11,236 1557 43.67 n-body source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #9 2.08 11,392 1633 2.08 C gcc #8 4.01 11,392 1391 4.01 Classic Fortran #6 4.20 10,960 1524 4.20 C gcc #4 4.41 11,392 1490 4.41 Classic Fortran #2 5.37 10,960 1500 5.36 C gcc #5 5.42 11,392 1429 5.42 Classic Fortran 5.48 10,960 1393 5.48 Classic Fortran #5 6.04 10,960 1664 6.03 Classic Fortran #4 6.15 10,960 1179 6.15 Classic Fortran #3 6.32 10,960 1305 6.32 C gcc #6 6.61 11,392 1180 6.60 C gcc #2 6.70 11,392 1263 6.70 C gcc 6.75 11,392 1173 6.75 C gcc #7 6.80 11,392 1244 6.80 C gcc #3 7.25 11,392 1208 7.25 spectral-norm source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #6 0.40 11,392 1197 1.57 Classic Fortran #2 2.66 10,984 513 2.66 C gcc #4 0.71 11,392 1139 2.84 C gcc #7 0.71 11,392 900 2.84 Classic Fortran #3 0.71 10,984 638 2.84 C gcc #5 0.73 11,392 569 2.87 C gcc 5.39 11,392 383 5.38 C gcc #3 1.44 11,392 463 5.70 C gcc #8 Make Error mandelbrot source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #6 1.30 32,992 1135 5.17 Classic Fortran #8 1.41 75,272 957 5.58 C gcc #8 1.63 33,256 782 6.29 Classic Fortran #6 3.21 75,684 661 10.82 C gcc #4 3.47 32,576 799 13.86 C gcc #7 3.49 33,000 994 13.87 C gcc 3.47 32,532 822 13.88 C gcc #3 3.52 32,860 763 14.07 C gcc #9 4.25 33,036 694 16.41 C gcc #2 25.21 11,180 406 25.21 Classic Fortran #4 10.21 75,376 618 26.51 Classic Fortran #5 45.35 43,632 520 45.35 pidigits source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #2 0.81 11,392 416 0.81 Classic Fortran #4 0.88 10,956 981 0.88 C gcc 0.88 11,392 452 0.88 regex-redux source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #5 0.80 152,148 1397 2.02 Classic Fortran 0.92 175,800 2225 3.01 C gcc #2 3.22 103,248 1115 3.22 C gcc #4 0.94 152,004 1230 3.26 C gcc #3 1.72 103,812 1266 3.30 fasta source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #9 0.78 11,284 1463 0.78 C gcc #5 1.30 11,392 1281 1.30 Classic Fortran #4 2.07 10,936 1351 2.07 C gcc #6 0.94 11,392 1930 2.76 C gcc #8 2.91 11,392 1293 2.91 C gcc #4 3.07 11,392 1240 3.07 C gcc #2 0.81 11,392 2268 3.23 C gcc #7 0.84 11,392 2011 3.26 C gcc 3.72 11,392 1206 3.72 C gcc #3 4.49 11,288 819 4.49 Classic Fortran #3 6.73 10,940 1215 6.72 Classic Fortran 7.06 10,940 1190 7.06 k-nucleotide source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc 3.77 129,952 1506 12.67 Classic Fortran Make Error reverse-complement source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #7 0.43 499,200 1895 0.62 C gcc #8 0.48 499,404 1543 0.80 C gcc #6 0.89 715,812 820 1.28 C gcc #5 1.46 993,848 647 1.46 C gcc #2 1.01 993,892 750 1.52 C gcc #4 3.68 500,380 709 3.68 Classic Fortran 4.06 986,344 1019 4.06 Classic Fortran #2 41.15 769,664 772 41.14 binary-trees source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #2 1.57 168,448 809 4.11 C gcc #3 1.73 134,444 836 4.46 Classic Fortran #2 2.16 136,456 1148 6.76 C gcc 21.78 264,232 654 21.78 C gcc #5 8.49 351,268 908 31.09 Classic Fortran 31.75 525,968 773 31.75 Classic Fortran Fortran Intel(R) 64 Classic 2021.8.0 20221119 C gcc 12.2.0-3ubuntu1 all Classic Fortran programs & measurements all C gcc programs & measurements