[dalke]

I don't need to go back in time as I remember the 1990s. Even in 1995, Python was one of the top choices for high-level "scripting" or embedded languages. Perl was the hot language, and the other main choice was Tcl.

I used all three non non-trivial projects, and liked Python the best. It was better at handling complex data structures than the other two. Tcl was an easier language for my target audience (scientist/non-professional programmers) and it was easier to embed and extend Tcl, but Python's module and object system made up for it.

By the late 1990s, others in my field were already shipping Python-based applications, using Python bindings to Motif.

IMO, people didn't take notice of Python because of the "strange indentation", because high-level languages are seen as being too slow for real work, and because people coming from a statically compiled language often want the assurance that compile-time type checking gives.

[cageface]

I started using Python in 1997 and found it profoundly mind-expanding since my previous experience with languages was limited to C/C++ and Pascal. But over the years I learned other languages and came to see missed opportunities and outright mistakes in the original design that I don't think a more experienced student of programming language design would have made. Many of the original mistakes have now been corrected but the churn in the language this has required means that it no longer "fits in my head" the way Ruby or C do.