In general "Is programming language X faster than Y" is a meaningless question. It mostly comes down to specific implementations - specific compilers, interpreters, etc.

The only case where one language is likely to be inherently faster than another is when the other language is so high level or abstracted away from the processors it is going to run on that an optimizing compiler is going to have a hard time bridging that gap. It may take more work for an optimizing compiler to generate good code for one language than another, for example by having to recognize when aliasing doesn't exist, but again this is ultimately a matter of implementation not language.

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gpderetta 14 hours ago | parent [-]

Language design still has a huge impact on which optimizations are practically implementable.

The Mythical Sufficiently Smart Compiler is, in fact, still mythical.

	▲	HarHarVeryFunny 14 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Sure, but not all compilers are created equal and are going to go to the same lengths of analysis to discover optimization opportunities, or to have the same quality of code generation for that matter. It might be interesting to compare LLVM generated code (at same/maximum optimization level) for Rust vs C, which would remove optimizer LOE as a factor and more isolate difficulties/opportunities caused by the respective languages.