Is python the fastest growing programming language in the world? Well, if you look at the recent trends and polls, you’ll know it already is. According to StackOverflow “Python has a solid claim to being the fastest-growing major programming language.” People care what StackOverflow says because it is the most popular online community of programmers. The website attracts programmers from all corners of the earth. And if that’s not enough, Python is also crowned as the best programming language in 2018 by Linux Journals.
So the communities like StackOverflow would know which programming languages are the most popular and what is the current trend. The fact that python took the top spot in 2017 is notable because Java has been dominant for so long, this resulting from the fact that most undergraduate courses teach it to their students.
So one has to assume that some sort of drastic change occurred on a fundamental level for python to attract so much interest; it is safe to say that not even Travis Oliphant could have predicted this trend back when he used python to create one of the most successful data science platforms on the market.
Why is Python so popular?
It should be noted that stack overflow only concluded that python was the fastest growing programming language because of the number of page visits questions with the python tag were attracting.
So StackOverflow’s conclusion only matters if one believes that their traffic levels is an accurate indicator of popularity. Then again, any website that receives up to forty million views a month is difficult to ignore.
A number of reasons could be driving the popularity of python, with the most prominent including the following:
1. Simplicity
Python is a simple language to master and utilize, so it makes sense that so many new programmers are flocking to it. Additionally, python code is clean and easy to comprehend.
2. Versatility
Python stands out not only because it supports multiple systems and platforms but also because it can be used for a variety of purposes from web development to scientific modeling and systems operations to mention but a few. There are people using python to create advanced video games. Others have used the language to experiment with artificial intelligence. There is no limit to the applications of python.
3. Web Assets
Python’s clean code and huge documentation make the creation and customization of web assets easy and efficient. The clean syntax also makes the process of reviewing code very easy. It is also worth mentioning that the language has several powerful GUI frameworks like Django that not only allow the writing of graphical applications but also simplify code reusability and enable the creation of cross-platform applications.
4. Future Scope
Python is dominating the emerging and cutting-edge technologies like data science, Artificial intelligence, and machine learning. These technologies are becoming very important for every industry that produces a lot of data and works on automation. Python has proven that it is capable enough for solving hard problems as well. That makes it a top priority for developers.
The fact that there is so much python documentation on the internet makes the solving of python-related problems easy. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to assume that python is only going to grow further in popularity in the coming months and years, especially as the positive word of mouth spreads.
Have a look at some important python related topics for further information:
Why python is popular? Because students learn it as primary language in school along with C, C++ and Java. Obviously it is easier to pickup than the other. Much easier than PHP now. Most interesting fields like AI need python as primary language due to available frameworks and libs like tensorflow and numpy. Most skids praise python too much because that is the only language they can write in. Lack of access modifiers in python provide a bad object oriented experience. Most beginners are happy with that. IMHO, python is overrated.
True, after my 5 years of working with C#.Net I recently started writing Python scripts for some automated deployments on linux server and I can say it is overrated. Python is more popular on linux may be because Bash scripting sucks for complax tasks.
Can confirm this. Having been coding for a long time, initially in Java and then in C and Python, I can say Python is far superior to Java (but not C). Those who say it’s overrated need to understand that it’s a different kind of a language. It’s an interpreted language. It’s bound to be slow. But still, with clever optimisation tricks and running the power hungry code on a C backend (all machine learning and image processing libraries do this), it can perform faster than unoptimized C.
Also, it’s not OOP. Don’t expect it to have features that doesn’t belong to it. Things such as encapsulation and stuff don’t exist in python.
Use cases for interpreted languages such as Python and compiled ones such as C are drastically different. It’s best not to compare them. However, a C/Python proficiency is much better than proficiency in Java. You’ve got a lot more scope.
Let’s compare PHP and Python. Both are interpreted languages. In benchmarks (https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksgame/faster/php.html), PHP is proven faster than Python. PHP empowering 80% of the web is more suitable for web development with or without frameworks. Django should not be a mainstream framework for web development. Everything in python is either an object or some core keywords. It is object-oriented. Then why not fully implement it? In PHP, object-oriented programming was implemented as requirement arisen, but now it has good oop support. C is on a whole different level, Java has its own place. PHP, Perl, Python, and Ruby should be compared. PHP started as a templating language, ended up as a full-fledged interpreted language. Perl has its history in the web development and text manipulation. Python was just a hobby project that went big. Ruby came out of frustration with Python’s noncomplete object-oriented concepts. Python being close to mathematics is good for academics. But it is overrated by students and developers who don’t have a background in other languages and often seen as a language for everything… (same goes for javascript).
Agree with above, python is akin to basic. It is hugely fragmented and allows for many runtime errors.
Python is simplified language and easy to learn. Can use for all current development.
Yeah! Python is too good at the beginning level but it’s always frustrating when it gets to advance Concepts. I love Python so much after C programming language because C is the father.