Go 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 2.16 19,516 1582 8.53 C gcc #4 14.20 19,516 1190 14.20 C gcc #5 6.91 19,644 917 27.13 Go #3 8.33 19,664 975 33.25 C gcc #3 39.57 19,516 574 39.57 C gcc 42.24 19,640 514 42.24 C gcc #2 11.16 19,644 1563 43.66 Go 11.74 19,664 906 46.77 Go #2 11.79 19,664 903 46.97 n-body source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #9 2.10 19,520 1639 2.10 C gcc #8 3.70 19,520 1398 3.69 C gcc #4 4.30 19,520 1496 4.30 C gcc #6 4.96 19,520 1186 4.96 C gcc 5.18 19,520 1179 5.18 C gcc #2 5.18 19,520 1270 5.18 C gcc #3 5.24 19,520 1214 5.24 C gcc #5 5.41 19,648 1436 5.41 Go #3 6.37 19,808 1207 6.38 C gcc #7 6.81 19,520 1250 6.81 Go 7.00 19,680 1316 7.02 Go #2 7.02 19,680 1222 7.03 spectral-norm source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #6 0.41 19,760 1203 1.61 C gcc #5 0.72 19,520 576 2.84 C gcc #7 0.73 19,520 906 2.84 C gcc #4 0.72 19,520 1145 2.84 Go 5.32 19,824 417 5.33 C gcc 5.39 19,520 390 5.39 Go #2 1.53 19,824 674 5.67 Go #4 1.44 19,824 555 5.67 C gcc #3 1.43 19,520 470 5.68 C gcc #8 Make Error mandelbrot source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #6 1.28 33,280 1141 5.11 C gcc #8 1.63 33,536 788 6.30 C gcc #4 3.48 33,152 805 13.85 C gcc 3.49 32,896 828 13.88 C gcc #7 3.49 33,152 1000 13.89 C gcc #3 3.54 32,768 769 14.07 Go #4 3.76 35,328 912 14.92 Go #3 3.76 35,456 900 14.94 C gcc #9 4.22 33,280 700 16.30 Go 5.01 33,408 829 19.98 C gcc #2 24.97 19,520 412 24.97 Go #2 6.85 33,152 843 27.29 Go #6 6.89 32,768 707 27.40 pidigits source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #2 0.81 19,520 422 0.81 C gcc 0.88 19,520 459 0.88 Go #4 0.95 19,808 689 0.97 Go 1.35 19,696 715 1.37 Go #3 1.58 19,824 610 1.62 Go #2 2.13 19,824 740 2.19 Go #8 2.49 19,696 727 2.50 Go #7 5.12 19,824 702 5.88 regex-redux source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #5 0.80 152,388 1403 2.03 C gcc #2 3.23 103,296 1121 3.23 C gcc #4 0.96 152,256 1237 3.27 C gcc #3 1.72 103,680 1273 3.29 Go #5 3.17 320,972 817 5.38 Go #4 14.51 368,680 832 34.26 Go 25.58 345,472 749 61.95 Go #3 25.72 402,968 836 62.19 fasta source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #9 0.78 19,520 1469 0.78 C gcc #5 1.24 19,520 1286 1.24 C gcc #6 0.93 19,648 1936 2.73 C gcc #8 2.79 19,520 1299 2.79 C gcc #4 3.02 19,520 1244 3.02 C gcc #2 0.83 19,520 2270 3.26 C gcc #7 0.85 19,648 2018 3.29 C gcc 3.74 19,520 1209 3.73 Go 3.73 19,804 1055 3.74 Go #2 1.26 19,672 1405 4.03 Go #3 1.50 19,664 1362 4.08 C gcc #3 4.49 19,520 825 4.48 k-nucleotide source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc 3.80 130,432 1512 12.64 Go #7 7.52 162,944 1613 28.68 Go #6 8.17 145,152 1596 29.90 Go #3 8.38 145,152 1729 30.32 Go #4 9.07 139,904 1552 30.33 reverse-complement source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #7 0.43 499,872 1899 0.58 C gcc #8 0.50 499,872 1551 0.86 C gcc #6 0.96 703,064 828 1.37 C gcc #5 1.50 994,176 654 1.50 C gcc #2 1.05 994,432 757 1.55 Go #2 2.21 802,176 614 2.30 Go #3 2.47 802,048 609 2.56 Go #6 1.84 1,249,840 1340 3.30 C gcc #4 3.66 500,480 716 3.66 Go #5 Bad Output Go Failed binary-trees source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #2 1.51 169,088 816 4.17 C gcc #3 1.89 134,400 842 4.59 C gcc 20.83 264,192 660 20.83 Go #6 27.61 404,608 618 29.03 C gcc #5 8.27 351,232 914 30.31 Go #2 13.87 601,252 672 55.04 Go #5 14.37 308,092 957 56.80 Go #3 14.86 323,544 806 57.39 Go 30.97 262,396 488 57.95 Go #7 33.10 292,588 531 61.68 Go go version go1.22.0 linux/amd64 GOAMD64=v2 C gcc 13.2.0-4ubuntu3 all Go programs & measurements all C gcc programs & measurements