Ruby and Java aren't mistaken to be close-to-metal because they aren't. C is primarily about memory access and structure at a relatively low level. How do you explain that most operating system kernels and device drivers are written in C? Again, C is much closer to the machine than anything else in mainstream use. The C "abstract machine" is mostly a myth.
Again, I don't dispute that C is much closer to the metal than Java.
I'm disputing that the C execution model is adequately and exhaustively modelling the idiosyncracies of real existing modern hardware, where "modern" means "almost anything in my lifetime".
