DIfferences among Languages for Number Crunching?

[ndeng at EULER.BERKELEY.EDU]

I have a question about which language is the "best" for scientific 
computation (read: number crunching), especially for execution speed.
A majority of people use FORTRAN, not because this language is good or
flexible, but due to historical reasons. Some others use C or Pascal,
which offer better system interaction and graphics support. There is 
also a group of people who still use BASIC or ALGOL. I wonder if anybody
has used two or more different languages to solve an identical problem
and compared the results for speed/accuracy differences. Do the C/Pascal/BASIC
version of LINPACK or Livermore Bunchmarks exist?  How about the speed 
of these bunchmarks when compared with FORTRAN version? I think this
would be a topic of general interest and would like to see discussions.

I apologize if this topic has been discussed before. (In that case, would
somebody be kind enough to give me some hints for whereabout of the 
discussion archives?) And also, please no flames, I am not trying to compare
apples and oranges. If I get enough responses by e-mail, I'll post a
summary. 

N. Deng
ndeng at euler.berkeley.edu
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