[j_col]

Just to elaborate further on why I think this is a throwaway comment from Atwood rather than getting into the whole "one language is faster than another" dick-measuring competition:

"Fast" in the context of the Internet is incredibly subjective (especially when you factor in global network latency), and has no place in technical discussion unless backed up with benchmarks (and even then, to be taken with a pinch of salt). For example, think about these made-up statements:

1. "Our site is really fast."

2. "That site is faster than the other site."

3. "We made our site 10% faster."

4. "We build our site using language X because it's fast."

I'm sorry, but statements like that raise my bullshit firewall. It's bordering on marketing speak.