C gcc versus C++ g++ fastest programs Always look at the source code. These are only the fastest programs. Look at the other programs. They may seem more-like a fair comparison to you. regex-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load C gcc 0.80 148,844 1397 2.03 53% 100% 54% 48% C++ g++ 1.03 275,752 2850 2.19 36% 37% 100% 40% pidigits source secs mem gz busy cpu load C gcc 0.81 2,664 416 0.84 1% 0% 100% 2% C++ g++ 0.89 4,236 513 0.89 0% 0% 100% 0% fannkuch-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load C gcc 7.45 692 910 29.11 93% 100% 100% 98% C++ g++ 7.92 1,700 980 30.88 100% 99% 98% 93% fasta source secs mem gz busy cpu load C gcc 0.82 2,888 2268 3.27 100% 99% 100% 100% C++ g++ 0.85 2,020 2711 3.13 92% 92% 92% 93% spectral-norm source secs mem gz busy cpu load C gcc 0.72 1,020 569 2.87 100% 100% 100% 99% C++ g++ 0.72 2,348 1044 2.84 100% 99% 99% 99% n-body source secs mem gz busy cpu load C gcc 4.25 8 1391 4.37 100% 0% 2% 0% C++ g++ 3.94 1,604 1808 4.02 0% 1% 100% 1% reverse-complement source secs mem gz busy cpu load C gcc 0.86 624,308 820 1.23 27% 18% 99% 0% C++ g++ 0.63 499,668 2093 0.64 2% 0% 0% 100% mandelbrot source secs mem gz busy cpu load C gcc 1.26 24,836 1135 5.00 99% 100% 100% 99% C++ g++ 0.89 34,540 3542 3.47 98% 98% 97% 99% binary-trees source secs mem gz busy cpu load C gcc 1.97 134,432 836 5.58 59% 66% 59% 100% C++ g++ 1.16 200,288 890 4.19 89% 88% 87% 98% k-nucleotide source secs mem gz busy cpu load C gcc 3.43 130,252 1506 11.17 90% 92% 88% 56% C++ g++ 1.98 156,108 1631 5.92 96% 67% 68% 68% C gcc gcc (Ubuntu 9.3.0-10ubuntu2) 9.3.0 C++ g++ g++ (Ubuntu 9.3.0-10ubuntu2) 9.3.0 all C gcc programs & measurements all C++ g++ programs & measurements