> 1. because CPython aims to be relatively simple and straightforward by choice
It's a painful choice, and having to use numpy for everything that a loop normally could do but is too slow for, or discourage making functions because a function call is so slow, makes an otherwise elegant language less so
It's a painful choice, and having to use numpy for everything that a loop normally could do but is too slow for, or discourage making functions because a function call is so slow, makes an otherwise elegant language less so