Unparalleled expressiveness, code readability, and a great community are some of the most obvious Python advantages for developers.
Technologies that use this programming language vary widely and include web application development, IoT, DevOps, blockchain, and data science. These applications have practically no limits, and Python can adapt to any industry with simple and complex solutions.
Before delving into the topic, one must understand that one-size-fits-all solutions are impossible when choosing the primary programming language for development. Neither does the «best» programming language exist; each has advantages and disadvantages.
Each month, TIOBE, an organization specialized in assessing and tracking software quality, publishes its summary of the main programming languages. These investigations illustrate variations in popularity over time. The company recently released its latest major programming languages report for September 2022.
The TIOBE specialists explain that they give the annual title «to the programming language that was most popular in the year.» Since 2018, Python has been steadily growing in popularity and finally reaching a first place with 15.74% in September 2022, above C and Java.
As for the advantages of Python, you must keep in mind that it has been one of the most beloved programming languages in the development community since 2003, among other benefits for programmers and developers:
1. Code readability:
Who doesn’t like clarity when reading a text? A well-structured paragraph, written in simple language, is much easier to follow and understand than one that is too long and loaded with excessive words and detail. The same applies to programming.
Developers often read and modify existing source code when working on a software product. Code readability affects how it can be imported, used, and maintained. One of the most cited advantages of Python, code readability, is crucial in large projects with numerous team members because each product developer must understand what their colleagues have contributed or modified in the code. Code readability is paramount for newcomers to the project to help them catch up quickly.
2. The minimalist principle:
In Python, like artistic writing, brevity is the soul of ingenuity. The philosophy behind this programming language advocates concise but expressive coding. As a result, much less time, effort, and lines of code are required than in other programming languages to execute the same operations. What’s more, the less complicated the code, the less chance of errors and the cleaner the code. This is another advantage of Python that attracts both developers and company leaders.
3. Object-oriented paradigm:
Python supports several programming paradigms: object-oriented, procedural, and functional programming. Python’s object-oriented paradigm is excellent for solving complex software development challenges. Another benefit of Python, it allows developers to follow the Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY) concept and the SOLID principles in programming. The object-oriented programming approach also encourages code mode that facilitates programmers’ lives with easier problem-solving, optimized problem-solving, and the ability to reuse code.
4. Large standard library:
Another advantage is that Python is designed to be a highly extensible programming language with many additional packages. According to the minimalist principle, Python avoids overloading programmers with functions they don’t need. This allows them to make good use of the modular nature of this language and have a variety of tools ready to perform the necessary tasks. In addition, Python has more than 200 thousand third-party packages; among the most popular we can find Django (Django Rest Framework), aiohttp, Flask, FastAPI, NumPy, SciPy, Keras, and TensorFlow.
5. Community and sustainability:
The Python language has a large community of developers and supporting contributors, with a dynamic fan club that grows continuously. As a result, you can expect frequent updates, quick fixes, and many recommendations and answers to questions. This makes it much easier for product owners to find good Python developers.
6. Development efficiency:
Python’s benefits, such as excellent readability, word economy, plenty of white space, and indentation, mean it’s easy to use, requires less time to learn, and less energy to understand source code. And the clear syntax, like a natural language, means there are fewer errors to correct. An extensive standard library plus many Python frameworks and libraries available for different purposes, combined with a mature support community, means that programmers can work quickly and efficiently.
What can be developed with Python?
As mentioned above, it is difficult to state that Python is the best language for a project without knowing the details of that project. But there are areas where software developers prefer to use Python for a good reason. One such reason, as mentioned above, is the wide range of standard and third-party libraries available. These are some application areas that are particularly well positioned for Python development:
7. Software Powered by AI:
Projects based on artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies are steadily gaining popularity. The benefits of the Python programming language make it the number one choice for projects involving AI and ML. The wide variety of Python frameworks and libraries explicitly designed for Machine Learning makes it the leader in the field. TensorFlow, Keras, Pytorch, NumPy, SciPy, Scikit-learn, Pandas, and several other Python libraries for artificial intelligence offer a robust toolkit for performing a variety of functions. This simple and highly readable language frees Python programmers to focus on developing sophisticated AI and ML algorithms rather than struggling with bulky code.
8. Blockchain projects:
An extensive list of specialized libraries is just one of the advantages of the Python programming language, making it an excellent choice for building a blockchain. Another benefit is, once again, the vast support community of Python software developers, an essential part of a stable blockchain ecosystem. This programming language has a flat learning curve, so even less experienced developers can join a blockchain project relatively quickly and start contributing immediately.
Python code can handle the continuously growing query list type ty
pical of blockchain. Also, due to the expressiveness of the code, it is possible to create a simple blockchain with only 50 lines of code using Python. Finally, being a scripting language, it does not need compilation and offers a previous compilation that developers find convenient when working on blockchain.
9. Web application development:
According to a survey conducted by JetBrains, Python is the most used for designing and developing website applications. This is due to the features and advantages of Python, such as readability and efficiency.
For business leaders, this means much faster development cycles and, in some cases, shorter time to market. In addition, the Python web development resource library is one of the best in all programming languages. Its highly advanced third-party frameworks for web development (Django, Flask, FastAPI, aiohttp, Pylons, Pyramid, TurboGears, web2py, Tornado, Bottle, and Zope) have robust functionality that allows developers to create complex solutions. Pyjs and IronPython are the frameworks that can be used to develop the Ajax-based application interface. This programming language is suitable for fast and scalable RESTful APIs, with Flask, FastAPI, and aiohttp being the best Python web development frameworks for this purpose.
Python is a basis for any data scientist. There are many reasons to select this powerful programming language, so it is up to you what the main reason will be. You should consider Python because of its possibilities and continuous improvement, which will help you create amazing products and help businesses.
