There are many python packages that have other dependencies not managed by Python package management. The pain of figuring out what those implicit dependencies are is effectively removed for users when configured as a nix shell.
I've played around with it a little bit, but not enough to make any judgements on it. Something like devbox could be the sort of thing to make nix-shell accessible enough to see wider adoption.
There is definitely a learning investment in order to write good Nix expressions. But, if you write a good nix shell expression for your project, other devs should be able to jump in without really needing to understand those Nix expressions and still get a working environment.
Nix package manager's `nix-shell` is something I wish more people knew about. Nix is gaining some popularity, but people often think of using it has to be a really big commitment, like changing your Linux distro to NixOS or replacing your dotfiles with a Nix-based one (using the Nix package manager).
What I wish more people knew was that you don't need to do those things to get value from Nix. Create project specific dev shells that install the packages (at the correct versions) to work with that project can almost replace 90% of the docs for getting setup to work on a project.
I was using Nim for some of last years Advent of Code problems. I was mostly liking the syntax. Was a bit bother by the standard library have a snake case and camel case reference for each function (if I'm remember that correctly).
At the time nimble also required me to have NPM to install the the Nim package manager, Nimble. This was not ideal, but looking at [the nimble project install docs](https://github.com/nim-lang/nimble#installation) it seems like it is now package with the language.
Might try dusting it off for some AoC puzzles this year :)
I hadn't been following it all that closely, so the repeat sightings of black squares in a transparent sphere was news to me.
The more interesting one is seeing the signs that there is growing momentum in the government to gain more clearance and potentially make more classified information public. So perhaps this is the amuse-bouche?
Perceivable latency isn't the only consideration. Depending on your business, compute for your proprietary workloads might be one of your biggest expenses. You could see an order of magnitude improvement to resource consumption depending on the type of workload and the language it is written in.
Ultimately these these choices are all about trade-offs. Maybe python is fine for them, maybe they've built themselves into a corner. Time will tell.
I think you are forgetting that the "modern society" you are familiar with is not ubiquitous and in our present moment there are many people that lead completely different lives than you. If you are not ignorant of this, then you are supposing that no one in a different circumstance may prefer it and fight for it.
That is post-agricultural revolution humanity. Sure it is ancient by the standards of an individual, but it is only a relatively recent and small part of the more than 100 thousand years of human pre-history.
There are many python packages that have other dependencies not managed by Python package management. The pain of figuring out what those implicit dependencies are is effectively removed for users when configured as a nix shell.