JavaScript vs Python: Speed and Performance
The initial purpose of creating JavaScript was to make it fast on the web. Compared to Python, it’s a little bit faster since Node.js, for example, offers advanced multithreading while Python processes requests in a single flow. Apps that require real-time and dynamic interactions are more frequently built on JavaScript and the same can be told about website and ERP apps (as JS supports both domains). This means that applications like Facebook that generate big amounts of data in real-time are more likely to use JavaScript so as not to make their users wait.
On the other hand, Python is a perfect choice for CPU-intensive solutions such as a machine learning model that has to process large piles of data to solve a specific problem. Since it’s easy to code, it’s frequently used to develop large-sized applications, especially math-intensive projects. Though the Instagram server is more of an I/O than a CPU-intensive situation, it still uses Python. This proves that Python can perform very quickly if you know how to optimize it correctly (with the help of NumPy or Cython, for example).
JavaScript vs Python: Learning Curve
Beginners are usually tempted to start with Python as it’s considered one of the most beginner-friendly languages, and there are a few reasons for that. First of all, code in Python is more readable compared to other languages and contains fewer lines. Secondly, it has fewer structural rules which significantly speeds up the development process. JavaScript is not that easy to learn and is quite difficult to debug. Though, if one is acquainted with C-like languages, it will be easier to learn JavaScript as its syntax is similar to the rules of these languages.
There is a massive amount of resources available on the Internet in both languages. If you want to take up Python, a good idea is to check Jose Portilla’s The Python 3 BootCamp which has almost one million graduates.
JS vs Python: Web and Mobile Development
As has been mentioned above, web applications developed with JavaScript are faster and handle big amounts of data and code better while Python will take longer to respond. Thanks to Node.js which supports asynchronous programming, programmers can reach better scalability using JS. On the other hand, Python is more used on the server-side. It’s important to mention that Python has a steady environment with the following frameworks: Pyramid, Flask, and Django, using which will improve the development.
Initially, Python was not designed to develop GUI apps though with the help of such frameworks as Kivy and BeeWare libraries, it’s possible to build native-looking mobile apps with Python. Though the primary purpose of JavaScript was the development and management of websites, it’s also frequently used for mobile development. A big drawback of JS for mobile is that neither IOS nor Android run native apps written with it.
Advantages of Python:
- Python is a high-level programming language that is easy to learn, read, and write;
- Being an interpreted language, Python executes the code line by line;
- It has massive library support, including PyPl;
- Python is a very productive and flexible programming language;
- It’s a general-purpose programming language, therefore, is applicable to almost every field and variety of tasks.
Applications of Python:
Python has a wide range of use cases across different industries. Besides the common applications such as building mobile, web, and desktop applications, Python is a good choice for:
- AI and ML projects;
- Data science;
- Scripting;
- Database programming;
- Quick prototyping, etc.
Advantages of JavaScript:
- JavaScript is an interpreted language and a client-side script that reduces the compilation time and speeds up the execution of the program;
- It’s easy to understand and learn;
- JavaScript is highly interoperable and perfectly works with other programming languages;
- It can create rich interfaces with such features as drag and drop, components like sliders, etc.;
- It’s extremely popular and is used everywhere on the web and increasingly used on the backend with the advent of Node.js.
Applications of JavaScript:
Having the largest open-source package repository, JavaScript has been used for every type of software in different segments:
- Web, mobile, and desktop applications;
- Server applications;
- Games;
- Smartwatch apps;
- Web servers;
- Flying robots, etc.
Final Thoughts
Summing up, both languages are very popular and offer a lot of job opportunities and high rates in the market. There are a lot of online courses and plenty of documentation to take up each of them. JavaScript strongly holds the position of the most powerful language for web and mobile development, while Python dominates in the machine learning field because of its capacity to manipulate data and strong readability. The choice between them also depends on your previous experience. If you want a quick start, Python is a better option. Though people with knowledge of C-like languages won’t find JavaScript a big challenge either.
Which language would you recommend for beginners? Share in the comments below.
