I think the comparison Brian Hurt makes between "core" and "edge" languages (http://enfranchisedmind.com/blog/2008/09/20/programming-languages-are-pc-oss-circa-

I think the comparison Brian Hurt makes between "core" and "edge" languages (http://enfranchisedmind.com/blog/2008/09/20/programming-languages-are-pc-oss-circa-1986/ http://enfranchisedmind.com/blog/2008/09/20/programming-lang...) is pretty relevant here. "Edge" languages are often used as "glue" languages, because they're good at wrapping separate components and making them work together, while "core" languages are usually better for complicated systems that do most of their work internally, such as compilers. Lisp and OCaml are primarily core languages, while Python and Perl are primarily edge languages.