Quickest way to get up to speed with Python, from PHP and JavaScript?

Each of those languages (especially JavaScript) is very, very quirky. If "getting up to speed" means to learn them and able to write idiomatic code, it require a few weeks of writing real code every day for each language.

If it just means that you're a programmer and want to understand the latest best practices, then Python and PHP are not too bad. They have relatively centralized ways of doing things, especially PHP which has a really good community defining standards.

JavaScript is an ever-evolving beast that you really have to work every day to keep up with.

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