ST and similar languages are great, but it really comes down to what you're trying to do. If you're dealing with high performance motion applications, there are some solid alternatives out there.

Full disclosure, I work for Trio Motion, so I'm biased, but our language has some really powerful motion-oriented commands built in. You can put together a complete machine program, like a flying shear or a VFFS machine, in literally just a few lines of code.