"FWIW, there are lots of Python folks moving to git and hg as well"
It's not remotely as universal as it was for Ruby developers. When working with Python you still can't go a day without hitting an svn repo, but with Ruby you'd easily not touch one for months.
"But I don't understand what VCS choice has to do with language culture."
A lot, and I already described it. Ruby developers and the Ruby language overall are less conservative and more open to dramatic change than Python developers or the language. Each model has its benefits.
"'Python is such a large tent that it's quite inaccurate to say that "the Python culture'"
It's a large tent, but the common thread is Python and Python's principles, and they define the culture.
"there are already so many existing libraries in Python for doing most things"
But individual developers don't do most things, each works on certain things. Python has lots of libraries, but that doesn't mean it's the best choice for any specific job. As a web developer, there are a huge number of Python packages that don't matter at all in that domain. If sheer number of libraries mattered, we'd all be using perl.
It's not remotely as universal as it was for Ruby developers. When working with Python you still can't go a day without hitting an svn repo, but with Ruby you'd easily not touch one for months.
"But I don't understand what VCS choice has to do with language culture."
A lot, and I already described it. Ruby developers and the Ruby language overall are less conservative and more open to dramatic change than Python developers or the language. Each model has its benefits.
"'Python is such a large tent that it's quite inaccurate to say that "the Python culture'"
It's a large tent, but the common thread is Python and Python's principles, and they define the culture.
"there are already so many existing libraries in Python for doing most things"
But individual developers don't do most things, each works on certain things. Python has lots of libraries, but that doesn't mean it's the best choice for any specific job. As a web developer, there are a huge number of Python packages that don't matter at all in that domain. If sheer number of libraries mattered, we'd all be using perl.