I use a few different languages to various levels of competence, and I always do a static site generator in each one as my sample project that lets me get a feel for their differences and strengths.
So I currently have my own generators written in .Net Core, Go, Node, Python, Ruby, and PHP.
Of them all, Go is by far the fastest, Node the simplest, .Net Core the cleanest, PHP the hackiest, Python the nicest, but Ruby the most balanced in all those areas.
The Ruby one uses Markdown with YAML frontmatter, all in one script file that can be dropped directly into any folder and committed as part of my sites.
So I currently have my own generators written in .Net Core, Go, Node, Python, Ruby, and PHP.
Of them all, Go is by far the fastest, Node the simplest, .Net Core the cleanest, PHP the hackiest, Python the nicest, but Ruby the most balanced in all those areas.
The Ruby one uses Markdown with YAML frontmatter, all in one script file that can be dropped directly into any folder and committed as part of my sites.
If you're curious (and remember the Ruby one is not the best) you can see it in github at https://github.com/kcartlidge/ruthless and running my site at https://kcartlidge.com (using Netlify).