Thank you for the detailed reply! A number of comments here favor Python for ease of entry and utility.
Do I understand correctly that Java is important, but with a much steeper learning curve?
Do I understand correctly that Java is important, but with a much steeper learning curve?
And with Java, you're probably going to need a heavyweight IDE instead of just being able to use a plain text editor or a REPL or other interactive environment (which Java doesn't have).
Job wise: if you only had one language (and did not have history as a programmer) I think it would be easiest to find employment using Javascript. The need is huge and growing all the time.
Python or Ruby are pretty easy to learn and can be used for a number of different ways.
If you had plenty of time (read money) then Java would be the best choice. Java easily has ten times the amount of jobs available, so you can imply that it's more useful if you want to accept that metric.