This post is rather naive. Pandas performance improves when one uses in built functions. Also the performance of pandas is better over numpy for larger sizes [1].
Are there a lot of quants in the US that use QuantLib? I see there is a large community in Europe and Canada. Would like to hear from fellow quants in the US on their experience using QuantLib.
I tried web2py a little bit. I liked the fact that a lot of basic things get setup initially. But all the globals confused the heck out of me. Couldn't quite understand the right way to test. It could be just me though!
Its not clear to me why you think "PHP is not a very good language for the majority of what we're building". In my opinion, you should have a strong reason for rewriting an application.
A good answer strongly depends on that. Here are some thoughts:
1) If it is for style and maintenance reasons, then Python with one of the frameworks (Flask is very easy to get started) would be a good start.
2) If performance is a reason, then see if you can separate out a portion of your PHP code to call the Go service. You can use message queues as a bridge between the services for better scalability.
For most applications pure Python will not hurt. Python is very productive to develop. If you need to scale in the future, you can identify bottlenecks and rewrite them.
Can you explain why you think this is a two sided marketplace problem?
In my case the subscribers of my site are the consumers. But I need a lot of subscribers to start with so that when they sign up, and start to consume, there is a potential match.
I hear a lot of buzz on TDD. But I think TDD is not the end. There are complexities in application which is sometimes hard to comprehend before a module is put in place. In those cases DDT (development driven testing) might actually make sense.
I can see a case for microservices as a way to break down complexity. But introducing languages willy-nilly could have maintenance nightmares along the road.
I had the time to read a good portion of this book. Really well written. I hope some of the negative comments don't discourage you from sharing your work next time around. I learnt something useful this time.