C performance is no great shakes anymore. C++ and Rust routinely exceed it. Java and Javascript, even, sometimes. People still compare to C because (1) it is e

C performance is no great shakes anymore. C++ and Rust routinely exceed it. Java and Javascript, even, sometimes. People still compare to C because (1) it is easier to beat, (2) you are less likely to be accused of cooking the comparison by coding the reference badly, and (3) you don't provoke the question, "why not just code in that, then?"