> Python and Ruby are somewhat slow, which is absolutely fine for a lot of projects and in a lot of contexts
You can say that, but it presumes they are better than alternatives in other regards when there are options with really no disadvantages but better performance. The primary reason for using these languages appears to be that they are easy to learn when getting started (either as a new developer or a new project). But when you think that you're optimising to save a couple of months coming up to speed on tech over a lifetime of maintenance and performance benefits ... it seems lazy to me.
You can say that, but it presumes they are better than alternatives in other regards when there are options with really no disadvantages but better performance. The primary reason for using these languages appears to be that they are easy to learn when getting started (either as a new developer or a new project). But when you think that you're optimising to save a couple of months coming up to speed on tech over a lifetime of maintenance and performance benefits ... it seems lazy to me.