Python started as a scripting language for Linux like Perl but less cryptic. Now it is used for both web and desktop applications and is available on Windows too. Desktop GUI APIs like GTK have their Python implementations and Python based web frameworks like Django are preferred by many over PHP et al. for web applications.
And by the way,
- What can you do with PHP that you can’t do with ASP or JSP?
- What can you do with Java that you can’t do with C++?