Python 2.x or Python 3

I’m a Front-End guy who’s always wanted to pickup Python as my primary language of choice with the intent of transitioning to server-side work. I’m interested in Python for Web Applications and being able to work 50/50 between the Marketing and Dev teams to focus on growing a sustainable company. (think User Data & SQL Queries)

I want to use Python to engineer growth.

I know enough Ruby (Mostly in terms of RoR) and enough NodeJS to build a basic back-end and get a side-project up and running but let’s be clear, I HATE Ruby syntax and I love Javascript. Sure, Ruby is about as close as it gets to plain English but what really turns me off is that sometimes I NEED some structure and I NEED one single best way to do something.

I’m not bashing Ruby, nor Rails, in fact I enjoy both of them immensely. They both pay my bills as a Front-End Dev who often needs to build server-side structure and loves pushing weekend Rails projects to Heroku.

I want to learn Python because it’s positioned perfectly for what I want to do. It’s a great language for web applications add shows enough backbone to hold it’s own in academia. It can be optimized with C, handles data well (for my use), and has enough libraries/frameworks to get a quick prototype up.

I’m hesitant to invest the time into Python when I see what appears to be (at least from the outside, in) a split in the community and a further split in the community from the core Python team.

So Python community, do I look from afar and begin dabbling in R or do I jump on board and contribute?

Where do I start? 2.x? 3? If I start on a 2.x release, how long until I’m going to be pushed into updating my apps to 3? If I start learning 3, how long until the majority of libs are available for me to use out of the box?

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