In my mind, the value of this benchmark isn't to prove that V8 is absolutely faster than C but that there is intrinsic value in doing runtime compilation instea

In my mind, the value of this benchmark isn't to prove that V8 is absolutely faster than C but that there is intrinsic value in doing runtime compilation instead of / on top of compile-time optimizations. It's a demonstration of why run time optimizing compilers/runtimes may one day become faster than compile time optimizing compilers.