> I think one thing programmers underestimate is how many scientists and academics are using Python. It's not just ML, it's pretty much every kind of scientist

> I think one thing programmers underestimate is how many scientists and academics are using Python. It's not just ML, it's pretty much every kind of scientist and tons of non-science academics too. The fact that it's a great "casual" or part-time language is huge for these people. They aren't full time (or even self-identifying) programmers, but their programs are non-trivial. The readability, portability, tooling, and massive package ecosystem is huge for them. I've found the reliability and tooling really unsatisfactory, at least compared to Haskell. The libraries are there, though, and familiarity is in the departments (psychology (maybe more R?), physics, &c.)