Ask HN: Why use Python or similar?

Personally, I don't like Python. If I want a dynamically typed language, I use Ruby, but I came to this conclusion after spending time with both languages, and it wasn't the feature set that sold me of one over the other, but rather how I felt while working in the language and its ecosystem. In other words, whether or not Python or Ruby are worth your time is a decision you'll only be able to make after using the language.

I believe in being language agnostic whenever possible. Don't hold strong opinions about languages. People invest a lot of time and energy into their tools. This is a "sunk cost." Their time and energy can't be reclaimed. So it's no surprise that, when asked, they will praise their tools -- even if they aren't objectively all that great -- solely to justify the costs. They aren't trying to convince you, they're trying to convince themselves. So don't waste time trying to find feature comparisons. All languages have redeemable values, and learning a new one is always a valuable exercise.

So give Python and Ruby a shot. You might find you actually like them, but not for the reasons you expected to. And if you don't like them, at least you'll know why.

Secondly, with Python, the most popular implementation of the language is supported on all the main platforms. Compare this to C# and .Net where, although you can use Mono on Linux and Mac, you'd not be using the same runtime that folks would be using on Windows. Call me paranoid but I still don't wouldn't trust Mono as much as I would trust CPython or Microsoft's .Net runtime.

Having said all that, and despite the fact that I've written little C# code in anger, I still do like the look of C#. Microsoft seem to have done a pretty good job of updating the language over the years to support stuff like generics and functional programming. They've certainly done a better job on this front than Sun/Oracle have done with Java. If C# works better for you than Python does on the platform that you use then I wouldn't worry about sticking with it.

(EDIT - typo)

    using System;

    public class Hello
    {
       public static void Main()
       {
          Console.WriteLine("Hello, World!");
       }
    }

    print "Hello, World!"

Fortunately if there's no need for a lot of .net ecosystem, you can run .net on linux and similar systems using mono. (I have and it's a great platform to write for) But as soon as you want something more than the bare .net you'll realise the pieces are hard to find.

Regarding the missing features - I don't think there's anything missing, you just need to know where to look. Only linq may not be available since relies on specific syntax, but due to what you can do dynamically, it's not that needed in the first place.