I think C is still a good choice for the following reasons: - Performance is generally very good and while special languages can sometimes be better it usually easily possible to get the C code to the same level. - But with special languages you will often run into limitations where you are stuck. - It has long term stability - Compile-times are short which I really like - There are good tools - It has very good interoperability with everything - The code an easily be reused from most other languages, so it does not tie you into a specific framework - etc..