Ah, I see. I'm no expert, but I'd argue the response is "Maybe".
I think this is what blaze and pypy try to do with python: they compile it so that certain things are optimized. The harder part is that you have to generally hint for the compiler to truly be the best...
WRT to just why not use C, python/R/Julia are MUCH easier to prototype in than C (in my opinion, having used those languages). The "grail" is to be able to prototype quickly, and then identify the hotspots to speed up (which, in Julia's case, would be just inlining with C code).
> They can 'compile' in an 'optimized manner' using something else ...
Thats actually the issue Julia attempts to solve as highlighted in the article. There are many languages that you can use to express ideas, but when you need the idea to run as fast as possible, you have to rewrite in C/Fortran/etc and then add bindings to to the language.
Julia lets you write inline C, which I believe means that you can still express algorithms simply, but with some parts (trivially) optimized. (Not a huge julia user, but thats my take on it)
NIMBY is more "Don't use my road, use the road one block over" - in other words, road is the same but not in front of me. Thats a little different than "Don't use my road, use the road that has 3 lanes and no children on it and is labeled for commuting" I feel like there is a difference in that regard; I personally wouldn't want through traffic on my street, but I also don't want it on the streets next to mine either due to how recklessly people drive when trying to beat traffic.
I've noticed though that the perspective matters. If somebody start complaining about how I parked in front of their house, a typical response is: "I can't believe how annoyed this guy is getting over me just parking here for 15 minutes."
The homeowner however doesn't care that its only 15 minutes of your time, since for him/her its probably all day :-/
I think this is what blaze and pypy try to do with python: they compile it so that certain things are optimized. The harder part is that you have to generally hint for the compiler to truly be the best...
WRT to just why not use C, python/R/Julia are MUCH easier to prototype in than C (in my opinion, having used those languages). The "grail" is to be able to prototype quickly, and then identify the hotspots to speed up (which, in Julia's case, would be just inlining with C code).