Python and JavaScript are two of the most popular coding languages as of today. They both are object-oriented programming languages and have enormous practical applications, especially in web development. Although these two programming languages share many similarities, still they are quite different from each other.
In this blog, we will go through the key differences between Python and JavaScript, to determine which programming language is a better choice for web development.
Let’s start…
What is Python?
Python is a general-purpose programming language that supports different programming paradigms such as object-oriented programming, functional programming, imperative programming, and procedural programming. This programming language is both easy to read and implement.
Python also serves as a scripting language for back-end development in web applications and allows programmers to use different program styles for simple and complex programs.
According to Forbes’s research on The 10 Technical Skills With Explosive Growth In Job Demand, Python saw the seventh-largest increase, with a 456% growth rate.
Key features of Python
- Python is fast and easy to learn, read, and implement.
- Python can support large programs and it provides an ideal structure.
- It supports dynamic type checking and offers high-level dynamic data types.
- This programming language can be integrated with Java, C, and C++ programming code.
- It comes with huge built-in modules and packages.
- Its code takes less time to develop than any other programming language, thus speeding up the development process.
What is JavaScript?
JavaScript (JS) is an object-oriented programming language widely used for creating dynamic web pages. It offers full-stack development as it is used to develop both the back-end and the front-end of the web application.
JavaScript is used inside a web browser for providing dynamic functionality that can’t be achieved using CSS and HTML. It follows the rules of client-side programming, to run in the user’s web browser without the need for any resources from the web server.
As of early 2020, JavaScript was the most commonly used programming language among software developers around the world. Nearly 68 percent of respondents stated that they used JavaScript and 63.5 percent used HTML/CSS, SQL, Python according to Statista.
Key features of JavaScript
- JavaScript is a cross-platform language, which speeds up the coding process.
- It is a client-side technology, thus it can perform basic calculations on the browser.
- It provides greater control to the browser by providing additional functionalities that help reduce server load and network traffic.
- It is easy to learn and code with.
- It has the capability to validate user input for errors, thereby saving time.
- It has a strong testing workflow
Key differences between Python and JavaScript
| Attributes | Python | JavaScript |
|---|---|---|
| Code blocks | Uses indentation | Uses curly brackets. |
| Arrays | No built-in support for arrays in Python. Arrays implemented using lists. | Provides support for arrays as inbuilt data types. |
| Modules | Python includes a wide range of modules. | JavaScript has fewer modules. |
| Hash tables | Features inbuilt hash tables, called dictionaries, sets, among others. | Has no provision for built-in hash table support. |
| Implicit conversion | No implicit data type conversion happens in the programming language because of being a strongly typed programming language | JavaScript is weakly typed, thus, it offers implicit data type conversion. |
| Inheritance | Uses of a class-based inheritance model. | Uses a prototype-based inheritance model. |
| Mobile development | Not a good fit for developing mobile applications. | A good option for mobile development. |
| Libraries | Provides a huge standard library. | Has a limited standard library. |
| Mutability | Follows the concept of mutability by dividing data into mutable and immutable types. | JavaScript has no concept of mutability. |
| Numeric types | Have several varieties of numeric data types, such as int, fixed-point decimal, and float. | Only have floating-point variables. |
| Scope | An ideal pick for tasks concerning data analytics, machine learning (ML), and math-intensive operations. | An ideal pick for building a website or native application |
Conclusion
To conclude, Python is a general-purpose programming language that’s high level and dynamically typed whereas JavaScript is a web development coding language that’s also high level and dynamically typed. Python is great for the back end when it comes to web development, while JavaScript is better for the front end.
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