Scripting is only one use of python, it's also a math language that is used for implementing servers, machine learning and statistical analytics, data processing pipelines, and more. Numpy/Pandas allows fast math operations because it makes python the interface for operations implemented on c-arrays underneath the surface. For many many people, python is the primary programming language. The ability to use the same language for scripting as for your primary application is part of the charm of python.
The existence of the cloud means that you can scale wide instead of scaling tall, which makes developer time and complexity management more valuable than hardware efficiency. Python is optimized for primary applications in exactly that kind of environment, where the performance characteristics of something like C++ don't make up for the clumsiness of the language.
The existence of the cloud means that you can scale wide instead of scaling tall, which makes developer time and complexity management more valuable than hardware efficiency. Python is optimized for primary applications in exactly that kind of environment, where the performance characteristics of something like C++ don't make up for the clumsiness of the language.