[YouWhy]

I think Python's centrality is a consequence of its original purpose as a language intended for instruction.

Yeah, some of its design decisions required immense cost and time to overcome to make for viable production solutions. However as it turns out, however suboptimal it is a language, this is quite made up by the presence of a huge workforce that's decently qualified to wield it.

[eesmith]

Python original purpose was as a scripting language for Amoeba. Yes, it was strongly influenced by ABC, an introduction programming language which van Rossum helped implement, but that was a different language.

https://docs.python.org/3/faq/general.html#why-was-python-cr...

""I was working in the Amoeba distributed operating system group at CWI. We needed a better way to do system administration than by writing either C programs or Bourne shell scripts, since Amoeba had its own system call interface which wasn't easily accessible from the Bourne shell. My experience with error handling in Amoeba made me acutely aware of the importance of exceptions as a programming language feature.

It occurred to me that a scripting language with a syntax like ABC but with access to the Amoeba system calls would fill the need."""