Python is a powerful programming language for mobile and web development projects. It is also the most popular programming language for AI in 2020. RedI Python development’s use cases in scientific computing, statistics, and education make it one of the highly preferred programming languages for Python developers. Python advantages and disadvantages are something everyone is talking about today.
Python development is highly scalable and powerful. It is a programming language used widely for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. The Python Framework, Django, is a a highly robust framework that enables data science and equips developers to build web applications with algorithmic capabilities. By making use of data, Python is revolutionizing every industry – whether it’s eCommerce, healthcare or FinTech.
We can get better insights into Python through companies that are using the programming language at a large scale. They are using its capabilities for predictive analytics, valuable information, pattern recognition, and more. Since the language has a steep learning curve, more and more developers are now moving towards Python – as it is emerging as the technology of the future. We will look deeper into Python programming pros and cons to make an informed decision about its utility.
The open-source programming language launched in 1992 is now on the verge of becoming the most popular and used programming language. Due to the rise in demand for AI and ML applications, Python web programming is now the first thing that comes to mind for coding such applications.
Read more: Top 10 real-world Python Use Cases and Applications
But is Python for web development even worth it? It definitely is. Some of the top companies use Python web programming in their technology stack.
- Netflix uses Python to recommend movies, TV shows, and documentaries based on your history.
- Google uses Python software development to enhance its search engine capabilities.
- Spotify uses Python for personalised music recommendation to its users.
- Instagram uses Python to personalize the explore section for users.
- Redditt uses Python for web development to simplify the Q&A sections.
Along with these tech giants, companies like Uber, Pinterest, Dropbox, also utilize Python in their codebase to write structural programs. Trusted by millions around the world, Python applications are increasingly becoming the norm for companies in every industry.
Pros and Cons of Python Programming in 2020
What are the pros and cons of Python?
According to Stack Overflow trends, Python is the fastest-growing programming language. It is also the third most profitable programming language in the world. Python programmers all across the globe agree to its capabilities as a language with high-functionalities and world-class libraries. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of Python for web development.
Pros: Why Use Python Web Development
- Extensive libraries
- Possibly one of the most significant benefits of Python web programming is the extensive libraries offered for development. It has libraries for everything, including string operations, web service tools, operating system interfaces, scientific programming, statistics, and computation.
- From game development to web development – Python software development provides a host of libraries that enable scaling of applications. It reduces the time to code and provides re-usability to Python programmers for future applications.
- Versatile programming
- Python doesn’t follow a standard configuration and focuses on versatility in development. The learning curve is steep. It is a neat programming language with a clean code that allows utmost flexibility to Python programmers.
- Being dynamically typed, one of the benefits of Python programming is that it provides a simple text like a development environment, becoming the preferred choice for data scientists. It makes data analysis easier through its adaptive functionality and rich-features.
- Easy to utilize
- Python is exceptionally readable and similar to the English language. It reduces the complexity in coding by providing clear and easily readable syntax to Python programmers.
- It helps in understanding the relationship between different objects and simplifies the entire Python web development life cycle.
- Web development with Python also enables the easy visual representation of data through charts and graphs. Developers can easily plot data on graphs and derive better insights from it. It allows companies to generate clear reports and get a proper understanding of mistakes from those reports.
- Asynchronous coding
- Python for web development makes use of asynchronous coding which uses a single event loop to do work in small units. It is highly popular among Python programmers as it simplifies code writing and reduces confusion in deadlocks. It allows interleaving many processing loops through this.
- The Python web programming approach is much better than Java. It follows a multi-paradigm approach and supports OO, procedural, and functional programming methodology. Python makes programming easier through its flexible and multi-dimensional working style.
- Open-source and wide community
- One of the most significant advantages of Python software development is that Python is an open-source language. It is available for free and provides quick updates and releases from the community. Python’s code is updated frequently, which allows adding functionality to the Python applications.
- Python web programming has a wide community of more than 10k developers. The community is multiplying every day as developers understand its applicability in other development areas. The Python community is always ready to support developers and provides quick responses to issues along with giving assistance on different projects.
One of the significant pros of Python is its usage in data science applications. The computation capabilities and dynamic frameworks make it the preferred programming language for data science, one of the best Python benefits. Have a look at some of the most popular Python frameworks for data science.
Read more: Why use Python in Healthcare Application
The Cons of Using Python for Web Development
What are the Disadvantages of Python?
- Weak native environment
- Python doesn’t interact well with naive components of the mobile operating system. This is why it is considered as a weak programming language for mobile applications.
- Android and iOS do not support Python for web development in their official programming language database. (Ruby on Rails is a good alternative – click here to learn more)But Python web development doesn’t limit mobile development.
- It has libraries that enable application building without writing much code. Kivy is a popular framework that helps in building highly-functional apps but with much effort as compared to other mobile-based programming languages.
- Low speed development
- Python is not popular for its speed of development. It faces speed limitations because it is an interpreted scripting language. The compiled scripting languages like C, C++ are much faster than Python web programming. Therefore, it takes more time to develop an application.
- The issues are being resolved every day by the community. However, since it is an interpreted language, speed limitations will always persist. Python programmers have found ways around the speed issue and are regularly optimizing Python for web development.
- Lack of experts
- One of the most significant disadvantages Python software development faces is a lack of expert developers. Python is an easy programming language, but it requires innovation and effort. Compared to Java, only a handful of Python programmers are there in the industry with specialized skills & knowledge of the language.
- There is a high-demand for Python developers but a low supply. Companies often fail to find skilled developers and turn to staff augmentation for Python programmers. You can start learning Python today and get good returns on your investment of efforts and time.
- Run-time errors
- Since Python is a dynamically typed programming language, it has the risk of run-time errors. Because Python programmers don’t need to declare the type of variable, the design complications are much harder than you can think. It means that what Python code says is what the designs should be.
- Text coding looks easier, but it raises run-time errors. The utmost simplicity of web development with Python is also a drawback for developers. But if you are efficient and smart, you can easily turn this into your advantage.
- No web browser integration
- Python web development has high memory consumption, and since it is slow, it is not integrated with web browsers. Instead, there is Brython which is not suitable for real-world applications. Python doesn’t support running on a web browser and can hinder the speed of code execution if you try it.
- Python’s database layers are also underdeveloped. Therefore, it is not massively applied in huge enterprises with huge database needs.
Read more: Top 15 Popular Websites built with Python
FAQs about Python
What is Python Best for?
Python programming language is perfect for web development. Besides that, the language is heavily used in data analytics, Machine Learning, game development, GUI design, and more.
Is Python Used for Games?
One of the biggest advantages of Python is that it helps with rapid prototyping of advanced and highly functional games. Battlefield 2, Pirates of the Caribbean are some of the games that use Python codes in their technology stack.
Is Python Free to Use?
Yes, Python developers love the fact that it is open source and free to use by anyone. There’s no licensing cost involved in Python, which makes it valuable for startups that want to achieve economies of scale in development.
Conclusion – Python for Web Applications: Yay or Nay?
For the most part, Python web programming has turned out to be a big contributor in modern application development. Companies all over the world are using Python for enterprise software applications, exceptional machine learning, and AI capabilities.
It is powerful, scalable, and offers capabilities that other languages can’t. TIOBE’s index ranks Python amongst the top 3 Python programming languages, according to their recent survey. With the advancements in web applications, Python is growing at a rapid pace. There’s so much more it can do than data science that only developers can tell how far they are willing to stretch the limits of Python for web development and data science.
When we talk about user experience, Python is a clear winner for enterprise applications. From building reliable dashboards to CMS, Python is delivering timely applications. Combined with agile web development, companies are now harnessing the power of Python for a myriad of applications.
Python is a Yay for most companies today because of the powerful functionalities it provides. But if you still want to explore other languages, Ruby on Rails (link) is an excellent option. Because there are much less Python experts in the industry, it might be difficult for you to get the right resources for your next web application.