Being first and foremost a scripting language doesn't mean anything. If the argument is that for really short programs the iteration time when building and run

Being first and foremost a scripting language doesn't mean anything. If the argument is that for really short programs the iteration time when building and running is faster with the interpreter, because you don't have to build, I can't see how this matters. It would be a sub microsecond difference for short scripts. If it isn't, make a better JIT. (or even better, native compile it, as all things should be in my fever dreams)