Comment by tsahyt

True in a way. C++ programmers like to think that they're writing efficient code because of the language they're using. The same applies to some C programmers (although at a lesser extent I think). In fact, the biggest gains are made on an algorithmic level. That's something a lot of people like to forget.

Then again, the reverse isn't true. There are languages (or more precisely their implementations) that just are slow.