[sahrizv]

Actually I did give a thought to Node.js/express and more pleasantly, the recent one called Mean.io. Mean.io is especially appealing to newcomers like me because it hides significant complexity in linking up stuff on the node.js platform. However, the only thing which puts me off is the instability/novelty of node and consequent unsuitability for production environments. Django OTOH has been battle hardened, and there is help available if I hit a wall. Not at all to say that the node community is not helpful. It's vibrant and helpful but there are simply too many gotchas yet to be resolved, and more importantly, discovered and I do not want to be the one doing these discoveries, midway through my startup. :-)

Regarding ROR, I'd say I have never even seen the language or the framework. Since I have done previous work in NLP/ML I was inclined to learn python so that I can utilize the huge spectrum of Python based ML/NLP libraries, which I believe Ruby lacks.

[movingahead]

As someone who made that choice a while back, I can understand your reasons. I was also familiar with Python from my projects at college and so Django was a natural choice for building a web app. But, I struggled with a lot of basics in Django and then switched to Rails. I can speak with confidence that Rails ecosystem is amazing and the learning curve is easier thanks to the bunch of tutorials and screencasts available.

Though, I hear that the beginner resources in Django have improved a lot lately. If that is the case, it should be an equally good choice.

[paulwithap]

That was just a little joke that went over a few heads. At least you have one framework choice nailed down.