Chandler choosed Python, arguing that Python is more open source than Java. Apache brought an open source java to the market.
Is Python covering so many domains than Java?
Would it be possible to code every kind of application with Python?
For wich reason would you choose Python for an application development?

What do you think? Java of course, Python is so old. Who use it? Everybody use Java I think. And who cares it's open source, what does that matter ?

-=jeroen=-

Python is a very cool language. Just because something is newer doesn't always mean that it's better. That said the two languages are quite different Python is more for local interpreted programs, while Java is for compiled network-based apps.

It doesnt matter which is old and which is new. What does matter is to use right tool for the job. I think Python would be an excellent choice for future open source projects. Java has its advantages ie a support/user base which just dwarfs Python. Huge Projects would definelty want to use Java. There was a story on Java being used in the twin rovers sent by NASA to MARS last year (NASA is quite picky on what they use. atleast thats waht they are supposed to do)

Java is sweet Language and with JDK 1.5/j2se 5.0 things have become more interesting.

For Java Devel I would suggest Netbeans IDE 4.1

Well, its not really a good idea to make a choice of using either Java or Python without considering the context. Depending on what project you're working on, one may be better for the job, or it might not really matter.

For one thing, programming in Python is much faster. I'm not talking about run-time, but just the time it takes to write a program. Python is dynamically typed, compact and concise, so it is often a better choice for smaller applications.

But for the reasons mentioned by hatim, Java has many advantages over Python.

So, I guess I'm saying, you should learn both and use which ever one is appropriate.