[dagw]

_is_ there anything of importance happening "outside of the web" nowadays?

Seriously??? You can't swing a cat without hitting someone singing the praises of "Big Data". We're at a point where machine learning is moving from academia out into "real world" in a major way. Statistics, data analysis and simulation is playing a more and more significant role in more and more fields every day. Both GIS and BIM, while still pretty niche, are growing rapidly in importance in their respective fields. I could go on all day. I'd almost (but not quite) say web frameworks is least important or interesting thing happening these days.

[think-large]

It's really the contrast between these two comments that drove me to Python. Many things are possible with the web, yet I'm more interested in Machine Learning and development of applications for phones/computers/adruino/etc. So I gotta say that Python seems like the tool for me. I also love C and C++ so that might say a little more about what I like...

[dmorgan]

>Seriously??? You can't swing a cat without hitting someone singing the praises of "Big Data".

Which I also consider BS. I've seen tons of those "can't swing a cat without hitting X" fads in my time come and go, at best staying small niches.