A bit off-topic - I have noticed that python is used way more on the hacker/security community than other scripting langs (Perl,Ruby), anyone know why?
From what I know, python is usually the first language that newbies get pointed to when they ask where to start. It's easy to read, understand, and has a ton of libraries.
Plus python is older, and I think gained more popularity than ruby (before rails came along).
They are about the same age, Python was more popular in the US/Europe prior to Rails catching on (which I guess contributes to it still being more used outside of web dev).
Actually Ruby is more popular in hacker/security community. It's the official language of Metasploit.
Isn't Python, in general, significantly more widely used than Perl and Ruby outside their narrow popularity domains (sysadmin for Perl, RoR web apps for Ruby)? Just a guess.