title: Python vs C#/.NET -- what are the key differences to consider for using one to develop a large web application?
body: <p>My organization currently delivers a web application primarily based on a SQL Server 2005/2008 back end, a framework of Java models/controllers, and ColdFusion-based views.  We have decided to transition to a newer framework and after internal explorations and mini projects have narrowed the choice down to between Python and C#/.NET.</p>
  
  <p>Let me start off by saying that <strong>I realize either technology will work great, and am looking for the key differentiators (and associated pros and cons)</strong>  These languages have a lot in common, and a lot not--I'm looking for your take on their key differences.</p>
  
  <p><em>Example tradeoff/differentiator I am looking for:</em></p>
  
  <p>While it seems you can accomplish more with less code and be more creative with Python, since .NET is more structured it may be easier to take over understanding and modifying code somebody else wrote.</p>
  
  <p><em>Some extra information that may be useful:</em></p>
  
  <p>Our engineering team is about 20 large and we work in small teams of 5-7 of which we rotate people in and out frequently.  We work on code that somebody else wrote as much as we write new code.</p>
  
  <p>With python we would go the Django route, and with .NET we would go with MVC2.  Our servers are windows servers running IIS.</p>
  
  <p>Some things we like about ColdFusion include that its very easy to work with queries and that we can "hot-deploy" fixes to our webservers without having to reboot them or interrupt anybody on them.</p>
  
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  <p>I've read some of the other X vs Y threads involving these two languages and found them very helpful, but would like to put Python head-to-head against .Net directly.  Thanks in advance for letting me tap your experiences for this difficult question!</p>