I think what changed is that people sort of realized compilers and build systems aren't just those things, they are also tools. They can be leveraged for making your code work better, automatically, and they can help you.
The dream of scripting languages you can just throw somewhere is great, but in an IDE, they really struggle. They're editor languages - you can understand them without extra context and tools, but your level of understanding is baseline more wishy-washy.
TS embodies this. It directly trades off that scriptability and ease for... really nothing. The compilation isn't a side effect, it's the entire draw. People WANT a compiler, or, at least, something similar.
The dream of scripting languages you can just throw somewhere is great, but in an IDE, they really struggle. They're editor languages - you can understand them without extra context and tools, but your level of understanding is baseline more wishy-washy.
TS embodies this. It directly trades off that scriptability and ease for... really nothing. The compilation isn't a side effect, it's the entire draw. People WANT a compiler, or, at least, something similar.