Perl versus Python 3 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. spectral-norm source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 38.15 11,784 555 146.68 95% 97% 95% 97% Python 3 169.87 49,188 417 675.02 100% 99% 99% 99% reverse-complement source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 10.50 1,494,784 287 10.62 0% 0% 1% 100% Python 3 16.93 1,777,852 434 17.58 78% 21% 4% 0% k-nucleotide source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 56.62 1,069,148 476 190.22 70% 86% 87% 93% Python 3 72.24 199,856 1967 275.38 94% 94% 96% 96% n-body source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 735.92 6,292 1429 744.19 96% 0% 0% 4% Python 3 865.18 8,176 1196 874.96 2% 20% 79% 0% regex-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 16.39 157,044 820 46.71 81% 60% 85% 59% Python 3 18.45 457,340 512 37.52 69% 37% 50% 48% fannkuch-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 561.62 11,872 570 2,239.50 100% 100% 100% 100% Python 3 534.40 47,236 950 2,104.05 99% 97% 99% 99% pidigits source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 3.69 8,300 261 3.80 1% 1% 1% 100% Python 3 3.47 10,356 386 3.53 1% 1% 0% 100% fasta source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 90.15 54,920 871 91.86 20% 1% 1% 80% Python 3 63.55 844,180 1947 129.71 40% 71% 33% 61% binary-trees source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 172.50 2,200,640 648 573.15 72% 87% 73% 100% Python 3 80.30 448,004 589 286.50 95% 87% 87% 88% mandelbrot source secs mem gz busy cpu load Perl 687.48 44,096 586 2,749.07 100% 100% 100% 100% Python 3 259.50 48,192 688 1,036.70 100% 100% 100% 100% Perl This is perl 5, version 30, subversion 0 (v5.30.0) built for x86_64-linux-thread-multi Python 3 Python 3.8.0 all Perl programs & measurements all Python 3 programs & measurements