Use Python instead of Perl's GifGraph?

[Scobee, Richard]

I have done very little Perl programming and that was a while back, but I am
finding a need for a feature that seems to be well developed in Perl:
generating Web-browser compatible charts/graphs at run-time from database
data and calculations.  I have a copy of O'Reilly's Programming Web Graphics
with Perl & GNU Software by Shawn P. Wallace and it describes GIFGraph which
seems perfectly suited to this task.  But being a casual follower of
programming trends, it seems that Python is quickly replacing Perl as the
web programmers scripting language of choice.  So I was just wandering if
there are any libraries similar to GIFGraph already in Python or if I should
just go ahead and figure out how to do it in Perl.

I am working on a couple of intranet applications and both have potential
uses for run-time generated charts/graphs generated from database data and
calculations.  My background is mostly in VB but the biggest of these
projects is primarly using Oracle's implementation of J2EE in Windows NT so
I am already struggling with new tools, true OO programming, Java, etc.
>From what I've read, Python sounds far more attractive for getting something
new to work in a new language than I remember Perl being.  But if I have to
write my own graph generating library in Python, wouldn't it be more
productive to just struggle with Perl's GIFGraph?  I would try to do most of
the work in Java but probably use CGI to feed the numbers to be graphed to
the Perl or Python script to generate a GIF.  Does this approach make sense?
Is Python a good choice for this?

Any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.

Richard J. Scobee
Information Solutions Developer
PBS&J
Miami, FL
rscobee at pbsj.com