Free Pascal 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
C gcc #3	39.57	19,516	574	39.57
Free Pascal	10.58	19,664	1032	42.13
C gcc	42.24	19,640	514	42.24
C gcc #2	11.16	19,644	1563	43.66
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
Free Pascal	6.28	19,680	1315	6.28
Free Pascal #2	6.28	19,680	1328	6.28
C gcc #7	6.81	19,520	1250	6.81
Free Pascal #3	7.16	19,680	1424	7.16
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
C gcc	5.39	19,520	390	5.39
C gcc #3	1.43	19,520	470	5.68
Free Pascal #3	1.44	19,824	632	5.70
Free Pascal #2	1.45	19,696	548	5.71
Free Pascal	11.77	19,696	429	11.77
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
Free Pascal #8	3.90	33,024	958	15.47
C gcc #9	4.22	33,280	700	16.30
C gcc #2	24.97	19,520	412	24.97
Free Pascal #7	6.55	36,992	930	26.05
Free Pascal #3	26.52	19,680	533	26.52
Free Pascal #2	10.96	33,024	833	29.39
Free Pascal	10.98	33,024	833	29.41
Free Pascal #6	7.45	36,096	788	29.64
pidigits
source	secs	mem	gz	cpu secs
C gcc #2	0.81	19,520	422	0.81
Free Pascal #3	0.87	19,824	493	0.87
C gcc	0.88	19,520	459	0.88
Free Pascal #2	5.36	19,696	802	5.36
Free Pascal	14.63	19,696	3054	14.63
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
Free Pascal	5.51	103,016	1300	5.51
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
C gcc #3	4.49	19,520	825	4.48
Free Pascal #6	5.58	19,676	1196	5.58
Free Pascal #5	5.64	19,792	1225	5.64
k-nucleotide
source	secs	mem	gz	cpu secs
C gcc	3.80	130,432	1512	12.64
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
C gcc #4	3.66	500,480	716	3.66
Free Pascal #2	3.77	525,048	773	3.77
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
Free Pascal #5	2.09	132,608	929	4.98
Free Pascal #6	2.09	132,608	939	4.99
Free Pascal #7	2.12	132,608	975	5.07
C gcc	20.83	264,192	660	20.83
C gcc #5	8.27	351,232	914	30.31
Free Pascal	Free Pascal Compiler version 3.2.2 [2021/05/16]
C gcc	13.2.0-4ubuntu3