Interestingly, Vite itself is written in a slow interpreted language (JavaScript/TypeScript) while using compilers that are written in fast native languages such as ESBuild (written in Go).

It's a nice showcase of successfully applying the strategy of focusing on hotpath performance instead of blindly making every line of code "fast".

Also, Vite being written in JavaScript is much friendlier to the ecosystem. I myself made many PRs to Vite which I would have done much less if it involved a more complex language.

Shameless plug: I'm the author of https://vite-plugin-ssr.com which is a Next.js/Nuxt alternative but with a "do-one-thing-do-it-well architecture"[1].

[1]: https://vite-plugin-ssr.com/architecture#do-one-thing-do-it-...