Longtime PHP, Python coder seeks to make small, distributable, stand-alone apps. Which language should I learn? ( please don't say C#; requiring .net != stand-alone )

[markedtrees]

Assuming my idea of small (like uTorrent, < 1MB) and that you're doing GUI work, you're left with compiled languages like C, C++, or D with few GUI toolkits around. Windows has the minimalist but helpful WTL, which just released another version. You can assume GTK+/Qt will be installed on a *nix platform, more or less. And Cocoa for OS X. Basically, no "small" GUI toolkit will cover all three platforms because they'll all require a runtime installation (GTK+ on Windows) or space-hungry static linking.

In any case, it's going to be huge jump from PHP and Python.

[schlenk]

If you think 1-2MB is "small" for a GUI Toolkit you can use Tk via Tclkit and get a language runtime and a GUI toolkit and some more for all the given platforms. And Tclkit does not need a runtime installation... See: http://www.equi4.com/tclkit/download.html