Python's lists are just as good for recursion as Scheme's cons cells - the data structure doesn't really matter. That was my nitpicky point. I agree that Pyth

Python's lists are just as good for recursion as Scheme's cons cells - the data structure doesn't really matter. That was my nitpicky point. I agree that Python's emphasis on beginner-friendliness was the smart choice and led, ironically, to its current dominance in numerical computation.