Because they're compiled to use SSE instructions instead of x87 FPU instructions. If you are still writing 32 bit x86 C code, it's probably some embedded or le

Because they're compiled to use SSE instructions instead of x87 FPU instructions. If you are still writing 32 bit x86 C code, it's probably some embedded or legacy CPU, and it's wrong to assume SSE instructions are available. So GCC correctly defaults to using FPU instructions instead of SSE instructions on 32 bit x86. Javascript and python will basically never be run in embedded environments, and their legacy environments probably aren't that legacy that SSE instructions aren't available. So it's reasonable to default to SSE.