A lighter weight python base, with a non-root user and pyenv for handling virtualenvs.
The main python image has both versions of python (at least 3.5.x includes 2.7.x, I haven't checked the 2.7.x image). There are alternate versions of the image that a stripped down, but I haven't messed around with those yet.
pyenv simplifies building your own version of python. With the
pyenv-virtualenv, virtualenvs are
a breeze. So, two birds, one stone.
I also prefer to run as a non-root user who only has the permissions needed for the particular task. The other advantage is that if you want to implement the same functionality on a real system (perhaps because it doesn't support docker, for example the beaglebone), it is easier to port the process if it is not root-centric.
The shell resource files for bash and zsh (zsh isn't installed, but this is in
preparation for descendent images) are already populate with the pyenv
initialization commands.