> why does everyone keep using it only to find out much later that they need to call out to C to do the heavy lifting only to eventually find out again that eve

> why does everyone keep using it only to find out much later that they need to call out to C to do the heavy lifting only to eventually find out again that even that is not fast enough Because most people/companies cannot plan a program from start to finish, without actually building it. Python is fast to program significantly faster than C/C++. If you are making a prototype, then you need to be fast to allow rapid change. For most situations, that is good enough. For the 1% where it isn't, you bust out to C. for the 0.1% where that's not good enough, you write that again from scratch using something C-like. (yes, yes, rust exists, hello rustaceans, yes, yes I have heard about your lord and saviour. No, I'm not going to re-write everything in it, not just yet. Yes please do leave a leaflet. ) Having said that, python isn't perfect. I miss static typing, or at least a strict mode.