Python or Java

There are a large number of high levels programming languages available for programmers, IT professionals and developers and some of the notable ones are C, C++, C#, Java, Python, Php, Perl, VB etc. It is safe to say that C and/or C++ are two of the languages that are learned by almost all engineering students at some level of proficiency during their engineering courses. Beyond this taking up any other programming language depends upon individual interest based on requirements, market trends, or course curriculum (in case of IT or Computer Science). This article aims to give a brief overview of two of the popular programming languages 1)Java - that is in existence for quite some time now and is quite heavily in use in IT industry and 2)Python - that is gaining a lot of popularity worldwide for its ease of use, and convenience. Python has a lot to offer Java developers, and two languages are interesting both in their similarities and differences.

Python can be written much more quickly, and maintained much more easily, than Java. So the debates about Java/Python productivity inevitably turn into debates about the comparative advantages and drawbacks of static typing versus dynamic typing or strong typing versus weak typing in programming languages. If compared, in both languages almost everything is object; offer excellent cross-platform support, features things like immutable strings and deep relatively standard libraries. On the other hand, at community level, Java has always had a single large corporate sponsor whereas Python support is more distributed.

Abstractly commenting if, Java is statically typed, which means all variable names have to be explicitly declared; Python is dynamically typed, which means declaration is not required. There is a huge debate between dynamic typing and static typing in programming languages. However, one point should be agreed - Python is an interpreted language with elegant syntax and that makes it a very good option for scripting and rapid application development in many areas.

Programming languages are tools, and different tools are appropriate for different jobs. One is poor workman whose toolbox contains only a hammer (no matter how big it is!), and it is a poor programmer (or software development organization) whose development toolkit contains only one programming language. Having both Python and Java in our toolbox is an advantage, so that in any given situation we have a option of choosing the best tool for the job. So our claim is not that Python is the only programming language that you’ll ever need — only that the number of jobs for which Python is the best tool is much larger than is generally recognized. As a programmer, one can make the same money with either language depending upon the level of expertise. Both languages are very complete and resourceful. Python has a less pronounced learning curve and it is a language one will fall in love with, because of its beauty and ease. Java does some things better than Python like multi-threading, also it can be used to design platform independent applications

-By Manik Gupta Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering,
Chitkara University,Himachal Pradesh

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