C gcc versus Free Pascal fastest performance

How the programs are written matters! 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
	elapsed			Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	mem	gz	cpu secs
* C gcc #6	2.14	2,712	1582	8.436
* C gcc #4	14.05	2,351	1190	14.057
C gcc #5	7.28	2,949	917	28.32—28.45
C gcc #3	36.84	2,343	574	36.84—36.89
C gcc #8	39.34	2,343	483	39.52—40.22
C gcc	39.65	2,343	514	39.64—40.07
* C gcc #2	10.18	2,695	1563	39.98—40.15
Free Pascal	10.66	3,666	1057	42.368
n-body
	elapsed			Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	mem	gz	cpu secs
* C gcc #9	2.10	2,482	1639	2.103
* C gcc #4	4.06	2,499	1398	4.061
C gcc #6	4.98	2,482	1186	4.985
C gcc #2	5.20	2,490	1270	5.204
C gcc	5.23	2,486	1179	5.234
C gcc #3	5.24	2,482	1214	5.244
* C gcc #5	5.44	2,494	1436	5.440
C gcc #8	5.54	2,486	1195	5.537
Free Pascal #2	6.31	586	1345	6.317
Free Pascal	6.32	582	1331	6.316
C gcc #7	6.89	2,490	1250	6.896
Free Pascal #3	7.20	590	1441	7.199
spectral-norm
	elapsed			Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	mem	gz	cpu secs
* C gcc #6	0.40	3,199	1203	1.602
* C gcc #5	0.72	3,858	576	2.855
* C gcc #7	0.72	4,067	906	2.856
* C gcc #4	0.72	3,719	1145	2.859
C gcc #8	5.41	3,219	389	5.406
C gcc #3	1.43	4,080	470	5.710
Free Pascal #3	1.46	3,879	656	5.719
Free Pascal #2	1.46	3,793	548	5.720
Free Pascal	11.81	532	429	11.815
* C gcc #2		Empty
mandelbrot
	elapsed			Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	mem	gz	cpu secs
* C gcc #6	1.29	35,578	1147	5.110
C gcc #5	1.64	35,582	788	6.321
* C gcc #4	3.50	35,197	805	13.909
* C gcc #7	3.51	35,447	1000	13.943
* C gcc	3.50	35,017	828	13.938
* C gcc #3	3.55	34,873	769	14.124
Free Pascal #5	3.91	35,529	980	15.526
C gcc #9	4.07	35,394	700	15.721
C gcc #8	25.17	2,355	412	25.175
Free Pascal #7	6.61	39,596	956	26.28—26.50
Free Pascal #3	26.61	319	533	26.607
Free Pascal	11.06	35,152	853	29.636
Free Pascal #2	11.07	35,160	853	29.632
Free Pascal #6	7.47	38,654	809	29.88—30.07
fasta
	elapsed			Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	mem	gz	cpu secs
C gcc #5	1.24	2,154	1286	1.249
C gcc #2	2.77	2,204	1299	2.770
C gcc #6	0.95	3,748	1936	2.77—2.81
C gcc #7	0.83	4,514	2276	3.283
C gcc	3.71	2,421	1213	3.712
Free Pascal #6	5.62	324	1196	5.615
Free Pascal #5	5.67	324	1225	5.670
C gcc #8	8.27	2,195	839	8.31—8.37
C gcc #3		Empty
C gcc #4		Empty
k-nucleotide
	elapsed			Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	mem	gz	cpu secs
C gcc	3.58	135,234	1512	12.06—12.40
reverse-complement
	elapsed			Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	mem	gz	cpu secs
* C gcc #7	0.44	514,208	1899	0.621
C gcc #9	0.49	514,159	1551	0.777
C gcc #6	0.97	693,969	828	1.371
C gcc #5	1.54	1,020,662	654	1.537
C gcc #2	1.07	1,021,755	757	1.592
* C gcc #4	3.70	514,077	716	3.711
Free Pascal #2	3.83	538,989	773	3.838
binary-trees
	elapsed			Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	mem	gz	cpu secs
C gcc #2	1.56	174,780	816	4.30—4.45
C gcc #3	1.96	138,711	842	4.79—4.93
Free Pascal #5	2.12	136,892	959	5.062
Free Pascal #6	2.12	136,897	967	5.061
Free Pascal #7	2.17	136,897	1010	5.159
C gcc #8	20.77	293,605	607	20.88—21.13
C gcc	21.21	272,065	660	21.39—21.70
C gcc #5	8.71	361,587	914	31.85—32.27
pidigits
	elapsed			Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	mem	gz	cpu secs
C gcc #2	0.74	4,006	422	0.737
* Free Pascal #3	0.75	3,195	536	0.741
C gcc	0.75	3,727	459	0.746
* Free Pascal #2	4.49	3,437	834	4.489
Free Pascal	14.70	1,303	3068	14.714
regex-redux
	elapsed			Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	mem	gz	cpu secs
C gcc #5	0.81	157,463	1403	2.049
C gcc #2	3.22	106,713	1121	3.222
C gcc #4	0.97	157,417	1237	3.296
C gcc #3	1.73	107,401	1273	3.317
Free Pascal	5.56	106,508	1313	5.554
C gcc	gcc (Ubuntu 14.2.0-4ubuntu2) 14.2.0
Free Pascal	Free Pascal Compiler version 3.2.2 [2021/05/16]