Hopefully emacs can catch up.
like the fellow commenter said, python might qualify as flexible, fast to code, and 'fast enough'
The key part is 'dev' - it's for people doing development on the platform.
Used it years ago, we rotated disks every week or something and periodically would take one out of commission and get a new one.
I believe you can mix and match storage mediums - like have your monthly snapshot write to tape.