C is the scripting language of the kernel and low-level system libraries. Other languages have approached that status, but in my experience none have gotten to

C is the scripting language of the kernel and low-level system libraries. Other languages have approached that status, but in my experience none have gotten to the point of zero-friction integration with libc and kernel syscalls. I understand why (for one thing, not having a real string type is painful) but it helps keep C around for low-level system-call-centric code which doesn't hit on any of the things C does really poorly.