There is no C program that could not be made to run faster using inline assembly given equal knowledge of both languages.
What is sad is that this viewpoint of dislike and ignorance of the power of ASM in a higher level language circles and specifically in production environments.
It's more like the respect and wisdom of a long relationship for me. I've seen bloated and crappy machine level programs written by code jockeys who went to some of the best schools in America who fell in love with the hardware instead of the problem at hand. Sometimes a chainsaw instead of a X-ACTO knife is the right tool to create something when used by someone with real talent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyDaxzeFaRk&feature=related