[IpV8]

Anecdotally, I have programmed in python, js, java, c#, go, C, C++, ruby, and php all in a professional environment and I'd have to say I prefer python the most. It is a very logically made language with a nice balance of abstraction and expressibility. My general language choosing path is: can I do it in python? If so, use python. Obviously you need to drop down to lower level languages for certain cases, but why work with memory management for application code if you can help it? I guess my point is that if you're going to be learning ML, you should be thrilled that you have the option of using python. That said if other languages float your boat, I've certainly done some ML in c++ with openCV and it was a positive experience. Use whatever you want.

[stefanpie]

Python also gives you the advantage to write faster code in C for smaller more computationally intensive parts of the code and use the C code with python. This allows you to dip into low level languages like you stated but also keep all the main functionality in python.