“The top programming language” Python, does it live up to its name?

Source | Christopher Tozz

Translator | Liu Yameng

Planning | Liu Yan

Python may be the top programming language in the world right now, but it won’t last forever. This article will explain why.

The times for Python have never been better.

According to the TIOBE Index, the language is currently ranked as the most popular programming language in the world – a position that reflects its steady growth over the past 20 years.

This growth stems from a variety of factors. One reason for this is that, despite its humble beginnings as an enhanced shell scripting language, Python has grown into one of the most versatile dynamic languages. It is used in everything from web development to Internet of Things (IoT) programming to artificial intelligence (AI) and beyond.

Another reason is that Python code is very easy to write and execute, which makes Python the language of choice for introductory programming courses. Basically, everyone who has taken an introductory coding course in college or attended a coding bootcamp is now learning Python.

However, I also wonder how long Python’s heyday will last. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with the language itself, but in a way I’m amazed that it’s become such a popular language, and I’m not sure if Python will still be the top programming language in 10 or 20 years A little skeptical.

You might ask why? Well, here are four reasons why Python’s popularity doesn’t live up to its name.

Python is not fast enough

Arguably the biggest disadvantage of this programming language is that applications written in Python are not fast enough. At the very least, they are nowhere near as fast as code written in C or even Java (which itself is not a particularly fast language).

For this reason, I worry that writing so much code in Python will kind of shoot myself in the foot. Code may be easy to write and deploy, but we sacrifice speed, efficiency, and performance. In a world where every millisecond counts, Python is not a great choice.

Python’s syntax is too rigid

Part of what makes Python so popular is that it requires a really specific syntax, especially for newbies in programming. This syntax happens to result in very concise and readable code.

If you don’t mind taking the time to follow all of Python’s syntax rules, then this is great. However, if you just want to write code quickly, Python may not be the best language.

So if we want to prioritize flexibility and dynamism over making everyone’s code look pretty and consistent, Python is not the best language of the future.

Python provides limited programming experience

Another reason Python is popular with beginners is its ease of use. The code does not have to be passed through the compiler.

The downside of Python in this regard, however, is that it doesn’t actually provide a comprehensive software development experience. People learning to code in Python are not learning every aspect of the traditional software development process, and if they continue to use non-interpreted languages, their learning curve will be steeper.

In fact – and this may sound a bit harsh – knowing how to code in Python is only the first step in knowing how to run a program in the Bash shell, which is not coding at all.

From this perspective, you could say that Python is creating a generation of programmers who don’t necessarily know “full” programming. They only know how to write interpreted code.

Haven’t written anything really important in Python

This quote might also get me in trouble, but I’ll go on and on: Looking around the world today, I don’t see any really large, complex, significant applications or platforms written in Python.

Sure, there are a lot of major websites out there that use Python in one way or another, but most use Python in the backend. There may be millions of small applications developed in Python.

But there is no Python-based WordPress equivalent (though there are some Python-based CMS, most of which you probably haven’t heard of). No office productivity suite relies heavily on Python. Of course, no operating system, or even major parts of it, is coded in Python.

This observation is not meant to be a criticism of Python, but to underscore the fact that if Python was to remain a top programming language for decades to come, you’d think someone would be using it now for something more than scripting. and simple apps for more fun things. But they didn’t, and probably won’t either.

in conclusion

Granted, my arguments against Python above are subjective, and certainly controversial. Many people are more bullish on Python than I do.

I’m not saying that Python should never be used. It certainly has valid use cases. But most of these use cases involve writing relatively simple scripts and applications, and we shouldn’t try to use Python as the language of choice for everything.

After all, as I said above, Python was primarily designed as a shell scripting language. It has morphed into a more popular monster, and I think this trend will prove to be an anomaly. Ten years from now, I doubt I’ll look back and wonder what we thought when we made Python the most popular programming language in the world.

The text and pictures in this article are from AI Frontline