Actually I feel especially because of HN that Python got a boost like no other language in the last five years. It even reached our slow Berlin to recognize it as a potential alternative to Java. So I guess the hype in the rest of the world must have been quite huge.
Languages have long cycles. Python (1991), Ruby (1996), and Javascript (1995) inception dates are not that far apart. I also believe Python use has increased tremendously with HN, myself included. Ruby during the same time also fueled that (2005/6 ish), reddit being built on it possibly also sparked that.
A native language takes even longer sometimes, Objective-C just really hit it's stride with Apple/Next integration and the iPhone but it was made in 1983, same year as C++. Both with very different spikes/waves of interest.
From this we can see strict/native type languages in the 80's, more dynamic/scripted languages in the 90's, the ones in the last decade maybe are still in contention. All of them are pretty much products of their hardware environments at the time.
Which is weird because I regard Python as very mainstream and established, even old, and I certainly live in a place that is slower than Berlin. Guess it depends on your niche.
