Why are you recommending Python?  That’s the question a colleague of mine asked when I was pitching Python for data science work.  It is a fair question, and I tried to answer with facts and not opinions.  Indeed, answering a question about why a language is better than others can quickly turn into a religious war.  So, let me try to avoid that with some disclaimers.  First of all, I don’t think one size fits all: Python is not going to become THE programming language.  Depending on the task, other languages are a much better fit.  For instance, Java for enterprise applications solving well defined problems.  Fortran, C, and C++ are great for HPC. C is dominant for systems programming.  Javascript + node.js, or PHP, are de facto standards for web site implementation.  I could go on forever, as many languages fit a niche.  But when it comes to data science, Python has taken the lead.  Let’s look at facts before you start arguing with me.

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