I think the worst thing about Python and Blender was not necessarily the choice of language, but the frequent API changes and not having anything close to an IDE-like environment.
Not only did old examples often just not work, there was no serious code completion to facilitate creating anything from scratch.
Exactly this. One of the reasons Maya remains favored in studio environments is its strong API stability guarantees. Python is excellent for automation when performance is less of a concern.
Not only did old examples often just not work, there was no serious code completion to facilitate creating anything from scratch.