Shell backends

[Jakub Piotr Clapa <jpc pld-linux org>]

I've searched the archives but failed to find any discussions about that 
matter. Sorry if this is a stupid question. :-)
Is there any specific reason for using C instead of shell scripts (or 
any other scripts; it's just the interface -- C functions vs. calling 
external apps -- that matters) in the backends? I'm asking about it 
because writing and making small changes in shell scripts is probably a 
lot easier than modifying and recompiling C code and all of the network 
managing code in most distros is already sh based.
--
Regards,
Jakub Piotr Cłapa