I am intermediate in R and new to Python. However, my main capabilities are less in data analysis and more in programming and developing large software systems in teams, and I do not have time to become an expert in both.
Given the advances in the world of Python in numpy, scipy, pandas and its prevalence in data science and general programming, I think I need to focus on Python (although I really like R) and accept that for some tasks I could be 75 % is more effective, say, since I would be in R. I would find that this loss of efficiency is acceptable in order to be a master of one language, and not intermediate in both.
However, I do not know enough about any language to really be sure of my facts. I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has experience in both R and Python, and can say what would be the significant drawbacks, if any, of dropping R in favor of Python?
Edit 5: This question about stats.stackexchange is similar and has excellent answers.
(Editing 3-4: returning the content / title to the original question, which was closed. The initial question attracted a lot of expert comments, my attempt to narrow the question down to open it failed, and I would prefer these comments below the source text. which they commented on.)
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