>>27
I we assume "best investment" has something to do with "most marketable skill" or "skill you're most likely to make money with", and whomever we're discussing doesn't know <i>any</i> languages, I think C et al. are a superior investment of time to python. Your average person is *way* more likely to get a job and earn real money based on development with C and its ilk.
If, on the other hand, you're approaching it from a more academic point of view as to "best investments," I'd probably suggest something OCaml or Ruby or one of the other "cool" languages amongst the language geeks.
(Speaking of which, it may be only another 5 or 6 years until C# becomes on of the "cool kids". Lambda expressions in a C-derived, mass market language? Cool!)
I'm not trying to dis Python, it's certainly a <i>good</i> investment. I'm just saying that odds are it isn't the <i>best</i> investment.