The problem is that when working with prototype code, you want to be able to understand what's going on. Code in structure of arrays style is harder to read. It would be nice that it would run with at least some kind of performance that's even close to what you need in the end.
We definitely need "nice" languages, because they give a huge productivity booster over writing stuff in C or other low level language.
However, many nice languages tend to be implemented using an interpreter, a crappy garbage collector and a giant lock to prevent anything with threads. This makes them unwieldy for applications where latency or throughput is important.
Recently the trend has been towards languages implemented with a compiler, using smart static typing disciplines and an LLVM-based backend. This is a very positive and welcome change.
We definitely need "nice" languages, because they give a huge productivity booster over writing stuff in C or other low level language.
However, many nice languages tend to be implemented using an interpreter, a crappy garbage collector and a giant lock to prevent anything with threads. This makes them unwieldy for applications where latency or throughput is important.
Recently the trend has been towards languages implemented with a compiler, using smart static typing disciplines and an LLVM-based backend. This is a very positive and welcome change.