Denying Python's simplicity is surprising. Clarity of syntax, avoiding superfluous tokens, and ordering of code in speak-order are a few of the reason for it's simplicity. Interestingly, Python fails at syntax clarity exactly where it adopts functional-style construct: list-comprehension for example.
Like it or not, a language, like Lisp, which insist on polish notation is just unnatural, at least for most western speakers. (I don't know any spoken language that would map to placing verbs first in a sentence.)
There are some less spoken, and some more widely spoken languages have this as an optional possibility. Verb-Subject-Object order: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verb%E2%80%93subject%E2%80%93o...
So, I should use another term than propaganda, as that is negatively loaded. Consider it, rather, effective marketing.
Edit: and apologies on dodging the point on python being simple. I really don't know how to respond on that. I still fight heavily to read most python I am exposed to, as it would be way easier in sql for most of the etl I see.
Python's grammar really does seem to be significantly easier that just about everything else.
Someone on HN mentioned an article in which there were a bunch of graphs of the grammars of various languages, and Python was just obviously smaller and cleaner than everybody else.
Hopefully someone with a better memory than I will relink it.
Still, if you find the article, is be delighted to see the argument being made.
The claim was: Python was easy for beginners. Certainly a simpler, more consistent grammar is easier for beginners.
For me, I left Perl for exactly that reason. Python just seemed to "fit in my head" much more easily than Perl. Scalar vs List context is a PITA.
> For one, complexity of language says little about complexity of programs made in language.
True. But I can also tell you that I could come back to my Python code a couple months later and still understand it. That never happened with my Perl code.
And, this really got put to the test when Python code I wrote 15 years ago came back home to roost. Yeah, I cringed at some of the ways I did things in the code (although probably I should be kinder to my younger self--it was Python 1 code chewing through nasty binary formats), but I could still understand it and debug it.
And comparing to perl is amusing. That is famously a write only language. Easy to build quick text processing in, but about it.
For older code, this is a point I give to lisp. Not only can I still read most older code, I can still run it.
Note, my hypothesis is essentially any language that folks insisted is easy for beginners could be easier. There is a certain difficulty that comes from thinking something must be difficult.