> Python only dominated early AI coding because ML researchers write Python and trained on Python first. It was path dependence, not merit.

Python doesn’t need dependence to prove its merit. There’s a reason why it is one the major programming languages and was top 1 for a while.

It is easy to get started in. Some of the major warts it has, at least the ones that annoy me, revolve around deployment and management. Python packaging has been "fixed" at least 6 times