As someone that jumped into Java already in 1996, even though it was still interpreted, JIT would only come into early 2000's, there was another big factor, the

As someone that jumped into Java already in 1996, even though it was still interpreted, JIT would only come into early 2000's, there was another big factor, the standard library. Contrary to what people think nowadays, trying to write portable C or C++ code in the 90's was still an adventure. C compilers were still getting C89 compliance, and POSIX wasn't as portable as folks think. C++ was even worse, C++ARM was the C++ version of K&R C, compilers were more diverse than nowadays, each with their own frameworks, and C++98 was still a few years away. Alongside Perl with CPAN, it was a big batteries box. Python wasn't that relevant yet.