The demand for web development has been rising incessantly over the last few years since many enterprises are investing in web-based solutions to expand their digital footprint in the industry. There are a multitude of programming languages that support Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ML-driven business web application development. Amidst all, Python and JavaScript have been stealing the thunder. In fact, JavaScript remains the most popular programming language for consecutively nine years, as per the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2021, while Python managed to grab the third position in the list of popular programming languages for web development. Though Python ranked at the third spot in the annual developer survey 2021, if you look at the Google Trends comparison chart for the past 12 months, it clearly indicates that Python is poised to give tough competition to JavaScript in the near future.
Besides Google Trends, an analysis conducted by Emsi Burning Glass indicates that the usage of Python will grow by 19.8% over the next two years. One of the key reasons behind the dramatic rise of Python is that it comes with robust web development frameworks such as Flask, Django, web2py, CherryPy, etc. that streamline the website and web application development. Furthermore, Python is actively used by large technology enterprises for engineering Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ML-driven business applications since it meets their development needs with matured and advanced libraries such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Numpy, Keras, Pandas, and more. Before we dig deeper into the comparison, let’s quickly take a look at a general overview of both programming languages.
What is Python?
Python is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that is widely used for developing websites and web applications. This open-source programming language has been around for over three decades and it is still one of the popular choices among the C-suite audience for developing mission-critical applications that drive business growth. Some of the industry leaders that have opted for Python web development services for backend development include Google, Instagram, Spotify, Quora, Netflix, Pinterest, Uber, Dropbox, Reddit, and more.
Real World Use Cases of Python
Python is not just limited to web development. Besides website and web application development, you can use Python for the following:
- Game development
- Data visualization
- Data analytics
- Image recognition and text processing
- Web scraping applications
- Desktop GUI applications
- Enterprise applications
- The Internet of Things
- AI and Machine Learning
- Robotics and Automation
What is JavaScript?
JavaScript is an object-oriented programming language that is widely used by developers for engineering dynamic and feature-packed websites and web applications. Unlike Python, JavaScript is used for both front-end and back-end development. Launched back in 1995, JavaScript has evolved over the years to become the most popular programming language for nine years in a row. What’s more interesting about JavaScript is that it is used by 98.0% of all websites as a client-side programming language. Some leading brands using JavaScript in 2022 include PayPal, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Walmart, Uber, eBay, and to name a few.
Real-life Use Cases of JavaScript
Though JavaScript is primarily used by developers for creating websites and web applications, you can also use this scripting language for developing:
- Server applications
- Mobile applications
- Games
A Head-to-Head Comparison Between Python vs. JavaScript
|
Python |
JavaScript |
|
An interpreter is required to run a Python code |
Modern web browsers have built-in support to run JS code |
|
Several modules and libraries |
Fewer modules and libraries |
|
Uses indentation to define code blocks |
Uses curly braces to define code blocks |
|
No implicit data type conversion |
Implicit data type conversion |
|
Easy code readability and maintainability |
It is not easy to read and maintain code in JavaScript |
|
Used for server-side scripting |
Used for client-side scripting |
|
Supports procedural programming |
It does not support procedural programming |
|
Encoded as ASCII by default |
Encoded as UFT-16 |
Conclusion
Python and JavaScript are making strong strides in the realm of web development despite being launched a few decades ago. Both the programming languages come with plenty of documentation that allows newbie developers to quickly get started and achieve almost anything. This could be one of the reasons why Python and JavaScript are the most coveted choices among the C-suite audience. Lastly, the decision to choose between Python and JavaScript depends on your project requirements.
