Workload tester web bot

I have to write a workload tester that simulates user activity (number of users to log passed as a parameter) on a given website, and since I am new to programming (have gone through the fundamentals of ruby and python, familiar with perl and bash, but done little actual coding),

I wonder where to begin - what module/library to use, and how exactly to generate random user activity (e.g. following random links).. Any help 开发者_StackOverflow社区or references appreciated. :)

I'd had good luck using jMeter to run small load tests against my web apps.