> a typical Python application server, e.g., the debugging > cycle will look something like “think; edit; restart the > server; send some test requests.”

the "most typical" Python stack (wouldn't call it a application server) is probably built with Django where you don't reason about the Server restart, it's as fast as changing something in PHP.

P.S.: I don't use Python that much anymore. Other people would say that the thing I'm using now takes endlessly long to compile and has some wierd operators.