In this context, the the "slow programmer" option was the "no generics" option (i.e., C, and Go before 1.18) -- that is, the programmer has to re-implement code

In this context, the the "slow programmer" option was the "no generics" option (i.e., C, and Go before 1.18) -- that is, the programmer has to re-implement code for each separate type, rather than being able to implement generic code once. Rust, as I understand it, followed C++'s path and chose the "slow compile time and bloated binaries" option (in order to achieve an optimized final binary). They call it "zero cost abstractions", but it's really moving the cost from runtime to compile time. (Which, as TFA says, is a tradeoff.)