too many packages to choose from

[Larz60+]

how do we measure the true popularity of python versus java or perl

Why?
You'll spend a lot of time on information most people wouldn't buy you a cup of coffee for.

but the information i need is not just things like the package category, which i do want, but details at the API level of the package

Do you really need this information, or have you just convinced yourself that you do?

this all can get wild and crazy.

I can see that, so why bother!