The Great Language Trade-Off

The classic programming language race where nobody wins. Python lets you write code at lightning speed, but then runs like it's wearing concrete shoes. Meanwhile, C++ requires you to manually manage memory and fight the compiler for hours, but once it compiles? That thing flies. Java sits awkwardly in the middle, making you type 47 characters to create a string while promising "write once, run anywhere" (as long as "anywhere" has 8GB of RAM to spare for the JVM).