I fear the whirlwhind of negative and non-constructive feedback thats going to come down on me when this is read but please keep in mind that this simply my opinion based on purely my experience on the issue!!!
Python
Python has been one of the industry’s most widely used languages, with it being used in popular applications such as Netflix, YouTube, and many others. This is for a great number of reasons; it is reliable, powerful, secure and is heavily library and extension based, which makes it highly adaptible. Python’s syntactical dynamics offer a spectacularly large number of use cases for which I commend the authors of Python for. It is also considered the world’s easiest to learn language with a remarkably small 1 week of mastering time required (also something it is criticised for). Python’s ease-of-use has enabled code to be more human-readable and lesser in general too.
However, as aforementioned, Python has been criticised time and again for being overly-simplified. Its syntax is actually so easy to use that, for beginners in the programming world who start out by learning Python, it is incredibly difficult for them to learn and master other more complex languages with more complex syntax constructs. For example, The average mastering time jumps by a whopping 5 weeks when going from Python to C++! Notwithstanding the above, since Python is an interpreted language, it also has slow code execution (which should not matter unless it is key for your project) and no pre-run debug errors as it is duck-typed, which I love when programming in Swift.
JavaScript
JavaScript, on the other hand, is quite different in a lot of aspects. JavaScript is mainly used in web development and sometimes backend server development as, similar to Python, it is simple (not as much as Python is), speedy, and inter-operable (meaning that it works well with other languages and has many use cases). Certain versions and runtimes of JavaScript, such as Node.js, Angular.js and ThreeJS offer powerful versions of the language that you can do anything with. From making bots to full-blown server-side applications, Node.js, alongside the Node Package Manager, is by far the most popular version. I also use Node.js on a regular basis to make efficient Discord bots. JavaScript’s popularity is also just second to Python.
On the flip side of the coin, JavaScript also has its downsides; client-side security is often threatened as JS code typically is executed on the user’s computer as well as the inability to support all browsers is a downside. This list is relatively less damaging and just less in general compared to Python.
My Take
I have made many powerful web servers with Python’s Flask library which is really quite powerful and amazing. It allowed me to make many services and servers that users can use on a daily basis. Though I have mastered Python, my expertise is still in JavaScript and I must say that I favour the latter over the former (please don’t kill me). This is because I feel that Python, while powerful, is just too simple. Its simplicity is often limiting when working on large-scale projects where multiple fluid components from many different languages are involved. JavaScript on the other hand, expecially other versions such as Node.js, are much more powerful, work with a lot of different tools and APIs, and arguably has a lot more applications than Python, at the cost of not having human-readability and a higher mastering time (the things that Python prides itself on). For instance, one of my close friends (@yisiansim) started out in the development world by learning Python in the Computing module in my school. After learning the basics, he used the Internet and YouTube to master it and has made quite an amazing array of Python-based applications. However, when he wanted to enter Mobile App Development, specifically Android, he found it really difficult to master Kotlin due to the significantly more complex syntactical structure as well as the abundance of complex data types. This is why I do not recommend anyone to have Python as a starter language but instead to have JavaScript, as the latter is in a uniquely strategic position within the industry where it is not too complex, not too simple and yet powerful.
I actually started out with JavaScript as well, with the assistance of this free e-book I found online: https://eloquentjavascript.net
So that’s my hot take about the whole Python vs JavaScript debate; and that wraps up this post!
Image Credits:
First Image: https://www.imaginarycloud.com/blog/python-vs-javascript/ Second Image: https://www.peerbits.com/blog/nodejs-vs-python.html
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