Python is one of the fastest growing languages currently. It is undeniable that more and more programmers use Python and deploy it to the best of their use. Everyone, from the freelancer and startups to giant corporations and even governments, is using Python. Let us have a look at the reasons that make it so popular.
Training:
According to research, 8 out of 10 tech schools in the US teach Python over JAVA. Even the three major MOOC platforms, edX, Coursera, and Udacity have a similar approach and have introductory programmes before anything else and promote it on a massive level.
Clarity
One of the most striking reasons behind the success of Python is its ability to reduce clutter and complexity. This makes it clear and to the point.
Acceptance
Firstly, Python is great for web development. Take Django, Python’s most popular framework. Its prime characteristic is that you can possibly find everything related to web development. Be it a low-end application or a high-end system. It should also be noted that all major tech giants such as Google, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, Quora, Pinterest, NASA, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and even the US Army use Python. The TIOBE Community Index puts Python on the 5th place and it is no surprise why is it so.
Adaptability
Python is perfect for machine learning, artificial intelligence and complex data operations such as multivariate analysis. Also, the ever-expanding libraries make it great for scientific purposes and computations. There are over 33 million code results and about 675,355 results for Python repository more than 850,000 issues on GitHub and about 482,655 tags on stack overflow. This is just the tip of the iceberg. PyPI, the Python Package Index has more 3.4 million downloads per week, which equals to 175 million downloads per year.
Applicability
Python is applicable almost everywhere. A pioneering example is Monovar, a program written in Python that is designed to beat cancer. It uses an algorithm that provides personalized treatment for cancer patients by detecting anomalies in a single cancer cell.
Readable
To understand this have a look at a program in Java.
public class HelloWorld
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// Prints "Hello, World" in the terminal window.
System.out.println("Hello, World");
}
}
Now let us see the same program in Python
print('Hello, world!')
This makes clear how readable is Python and how acceptable it is in the programming world. Programmers love it and readers find it easy to understand. Also, Python allows for indentation. All these features make it the most human-readable language out there. This makes it easier to collaborate on code and perform code reviews. In a world that loves Github, this is a very powerful tactic, because your code is written by you and is read by the world.
Comparison to other languages
A major difference between Python development team and its nearest competitor Java is that Python is dynamically typed and Java is typed statically. Both Python and Java treat everything as an object, but the fact that Python uses Duck Typing makes it easy to read and write.
To summarize, Python is worth to use because of its-
- Versatility
- Legibility
- Productivity
- Ease of learning
- Vast collection of libraries
Python makes it happen. It is language that allows you to move out of the box and get the job done. It may give you the feel of a helpful assistant that is handing you tools as and when you require them. You want a tool to download stuff from the web, let us do it. Parse your results? Done. Execute a single value decomposition on a sparse matrix? Sure. You name it, Python does it.
This is an op ed piece, masquerading as news. e.g.
There is a tradeoff for simplicity, like the only closure is a trivial "pythonic Lambda". Of course it seems straightforward when you have to write more code to do less. A lot of the article is baseless assertion. *sigh*