Hotter take: ML would have advanced faster if another front-end
language had been available and widely adopted instead of Python.
One that is interactive yet fast & compilable, multithreaded (no
GIL), isn’t bloated, doesn’t care about white spaces,…
E.g. Julia or some Lisp.
Hot take: Machine Learning would not have been nearly as advanced
now were it not for Python. Python’s two main virtues in the context
of ML:
Lowering barriers to entry.
As a scripting language, it encourages and enables experimental
workflow.