And, according to that article, they only compared 4 different languages. I think that C could've performed better (C compilers usually give little faster code than C++ compilers do) and well-written and optimized Assembly could do well as well.
Aesthetic reasons aside, in production systems, performance is all that matters.
Getting features implemented: 1) at all; and 2) correctly; can also be important.
Not at all: acceptable performance of critical sections of code is.