Getting Into Python

I have decided that I need a good scripting language in my repertoire. I find that even in my physics courses it's good to have something to do some quick data analysis or to do some numerical calculations. These are obviously perfect uses for a scripting language.

I've decided to go with Python for a couple reasons. The first is that it has alot of support in the scientific community. The two big languages in physics today are C++ and, even after 60 years, FORTRAN. These languages have the power and the library support for scientific computing. However, I am hearing more and more people talk about Python. Some of the grad students here use it for alot of their data analysis.

I would be leery of using it as a substitute for C++ since I can't imagine that even compiled Python is very fast. However, I'm thinking on adopting it as my language of choice for quick "back of the envelope" type computing.

What do you guys think? Has anybody used Python for physics? I'm curious to know how many people use it for heavy duty computing or where you draw the line and just decide to use C++ or some other high powered language.