For some systems programming problems, the issue is real-time constraints. You need something to happen on a deadline, and adding GC prevents you from making th

For some systems programming problems, the issue is real-time constraints. You need something to happen on a deadline, and adding GC prevents you from making that guarantee. Or, even if you don't have hard real-time constraints, sometimes you need very low latency in order for your controller to work properly. Also, those high level languages require an OS. And many systems programs run on bare metal or a very minimal OS. Edit: Also, the abstractions that higher level programming languages provide are often not really needed for low-level programming. In some ways, low-level programming is easier than application programming, since the actual programming required is often fairly straightforward and constrained by the application.