reviving the 'php sucks' debate.. it's like Bank of America..

[Phillip McCleod]

11. yep no point switching horses midstream..

..that's exactly how i'm stuck relying on PHP/WP again. *i* ain't reinventing *this* wheel. no way.

my own experience is python-heavy so that's what i can attest to, but yeah it's pretty much a snap to learn with almost any coding background. actually i imagine learning python while coding with django might be a nice way in since you can then relate what you're programming to what you expect to see served up in the end (for instance an HTML form).

this overview compares python/django and php and probably will answer your other questions better than i could..
http://j4mie.github.com/python-and-django-for-php-refugees/#slide1

i will say that no, the templating schemes i spoke of in a general sense aren't drag-n-drop. in fact most of them are fully blown languages. django for instance uses it's own proprietary template language..
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/templates/

..whereas for instance users of github, ruby-on-rails, octopress, jeckyl, etc. might be coding in the liquid templating language..
https://github.com/Shopify/liquid/wiki/Liquid-for-Designers

they are quite similar. in both for example, the following would be legal in an HTML file..

<ul>
{% for item in itemlist %}
<li>{{ item }}</li>
{% endfor %}
</ul>