> most languages' compilers aren't that fast

All mainstream languages compile in about that ballpark, if not faster.

I've always found it odd that one of the driving design principles of Go was "fast compilation". It's always struck me as odd and short-sighted, obviously motivated by the Go authors' history with C++. If only they had spent some more time studying other languages, they would have realized that compilation times are really not a concern in languages these days, and they might also have designed Go with more modern features in mind, such as exceptions and generics.