Everything in your second sentence is true, but it seems like LLVM has been a huge boost. I think a lot more programmers are comfortable with parsing and ASTs t

Everything in your second sentence is true, but it seems like LLVM has been a huge boost. I think a lot more programmers are comfortable with parsing and ASTs than they are with the x86 instruction set. Not having to write IL->CPU codegen or peephole optimizations significantly lowers barrier for entry to compiled PL development. (I say this as just an observer, having written interpreters but no compiled languages.)