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Serpent
Serpent is one of the high-level programming languages used to write Ethereum contracts. The language, as suggested by its name, is designed to be very similar to Python.1
The intent of the Serpent language is to make programming smart contracts and decetralized applications in Ethereum as easy as programming boring command line apps is in Python. The language is designed to be maximally clean and maximally simple, combining the benefits of a compiled language with an easy-to-use coding experience. Just the logic, and nothing but the logic. Unfortunately, floating point numbers are missing, as are higher-order constructs like list comprehensions and closures, but aside from that Serpent has basically everything that you need.
So how do you code in Serpent? The first step is to set up the development and execution environment. To do this, first download two libraries: pyethereum and serpent. The simplest way to download is to either download the zip files from Github and unpack them, or run git clone http://github.com/ethereum/pyethereum and git clone http://github.com/ethereum/serpent. Then, enter the pyethereum directory, and run sudo python setup.py install to install pyethereum to your system, and do the same with serpent.2
From the readme3:
Being a low-level language, Serpent is NOT RECOMMENDED for building applications unless you really really know what you're doing. The creator recommends Solidity as a default choice, LLL if you want close-to-the-metal optimizations, or Viper if you like its features though it is still experimental.
[1] https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/Serpent
[2] https://blog.ethereum.org/2014/04/10/pyethereum-and-serpent-programming-guide/