Much better, it's certainly worth giving it another go. It's still much slower than Python, but it's quick enough that I don't notice it all.
$ time julia -e 'println("Hi")'
Hi
real 0m0.241s
user 0m0.216s
sys 0m0.196s
$ time python3 -c 'print("Hi")'
Hi
real 0m0.046s
user 0m0.020s
sys 0m0.000s
Inspired me to install and try; about 350ms on my macbook pro. Much better than it used to be, but still more than you'd want for everyday commands (at least if you're picky about having your computer feel responsive, which I am). :-)
