>I do have to wonder though. Is python popular right now because so many more people who have never programmed before are now starting to program?
In recent years coding has become hip/cool. I'm pretty sure none of the 10,000 Bootcamps/online courses that popped up are teaching c++ at the moment, it's all the easy stuff like Python and web. This gets people to their 'aha' moments quicker and keeps them feeling like they're progressing, even though they're doing barely any thinking. I will admit though if there is one language for anybody to learn for general purpose, it's Python.
In recent years coding has become hip/cool. I'm pretty sure none of the 10,000 Bootcamps/online courses that popped up are teaching c++ at the moment, it's all the easy stuff like Python and web. This gets people to their 'aha' moments quicker and keeps them feeling like they're progressing, even though they're doing barely any thinking. I will admit though if there is one language for anybody to learn for general purpose, it's Python.