Python vs. JavaScript
Python and JavaScript are both extremely powerful programming languages with a wide range of real-world applications. Python is a programming language that may be used for web creation and various other uses, like scientific research. JavaScript is used primarily for front-end and back-end web and mobile app development. This article will discuss the differences between Python and JavaScript. Before making a comparison, we will know about Python and JavaScript.
What is Python?
Python is a dynamically semantic, interpreted, object-oriented, and high-level programming language. It’s a built-in data structure with dynamic binding and dynamic typing at a high level. It serves as a scripting or glue language for connecting existing components and for creating the Rapid Application. It has a simple, easy-to-understand syntax that emphasizes readability, lowering software maintenance costs. It supports modules and packages and allowing programs to be more modular and reusable. The Python interpreter and robust standard library are free to use and distribute in source or binary form for all major platforms.
It was first developed in the late 1980s by Guido van Rossum and released in 1991. It is an advanced open-source programming language by facilitating public debate via Python Enhancement Proposals (PEPs).
Advantages and Disadvantages of Python
Various advantages and disadvantages of Python are as follows:
Advantages
- It is an object-oriented programming language that is used to develop rapid applications.
- Its syntax is very simple as compared to Java, C, and C++.
- It runs on several types of operating systems and computers, like Windows, macOS, and Linux.
- It has its auto-installed shell.
- It has an extensive library and handy tools for the developers.
- It comes with various prebuilt libraries that make our development task very easy.
- It has an interactive shell that allows us to evaluate items before they are implemented.
- It comes with a huge standard library to support a wide range of common programming tasks.
Disadvantages
- It is only used on a few platforms.
- It is weak in mobile computing, so it is not used in app development.
- It has no commercial support.
- It is an under-developed and primitive database access layer.
- Since Python is dynamic, it generates more errors during execution.
What is JavaScript?
JavaScript is a lightweight, object-oriented scripting language that is used to build dynamic HTML pages with interactive effects on a webpage. JavaScript is also commonly used in game development and mobile app development. It is an interpreted scripting language, and the code can only be executed and run in a web browser. We can use Node.js to execute and run the code outside of the browser. It’s also known as a browser’s language, and it can be used for both client-side and server-side development. Brendan Eich of Netscape created it and was first published in 1995. The language was originally known as LiveScript before being renamed JavaScript. JavaScript’s syntax is heavily influenced by the programming language C. The extension of JavaScript filename is .js.
Advantages and disadvantages of JavaScript
Various advantages and disadvantages of JavaScript are as follows:
Advantages
- It is an open-source project.
- It allows cross-compilation.
- It supports interfaces, modules, and classes.
- It is used both on the client-side and the server-side.
- It allows us to build interfaces that react whenever the user hovers the mouse over them.
- It may run in any browser.
- We may extend the JavaScript for writing large applications.
Disadvantages
- It cannot be used to develop networking applications as there is no support for networking apps.
- Client-side JavaScript doesn’t support writing or reading files. It has been only keeping for security purposes.
- It only supports the single inheritance, not multiple inheritances. Some programs might be required this object-oriented language feature.
Main differences between Python and JavaScript
Here, we are going to discuss the key differences between Python and JavaScript:
- Python is strongly typed, with no implicit form conversions, whereas JavaScript is weakly typed.
- Python is a better-designed language that is easier to maintain than JavaScript.
- Python supports a wide range of numerical data types, including int, float, and fixed-point decimal, while Java-Script mostly deals with floating-point variables.
- Python object-based programming is similar to JavaScript and supports a programming style that used the basic functions and variables.
- Python uses a Self-argument as the first argument to each function, while JavaScript uses “this” function to access the object.
- In JavaScript, synchronous and blocking programming is common, while Python is default by de-facto.
- Python has a number of libraries for machine learning, data analytics, and scientific computing that JavaScript does not have.
- Python is mainly used for server-side programming, while JavaScript runs on both the server and the browser.
- Python is easy to start programming than JavaScript.
- Python is slow to execute the program than JavaScript.
- JavaScript uses a “;” statement terminator while Python does not.
- JavaScript is ideal the mobile application development, whereas Python is not good.
- Python does not allow us to inheritance from instances, unlike JavaScript.
Head-to-head comparison between Python and JavaScript
Here, we are going to discuss the head-to-head comparison between Python and JavaScript in tabular form:
| Features |
Python |
JavaScript |
| Strings |
By default, the source code of Python is ASCII unless we define an encoding format. |
JavaScript requires UTF-16 encoding, and there is no built-in support for manipulating the raw bytes. |
| Function Arguments |
If a function is called with invalid parameters, Python will throw an exception and accept any extra parameter passing syntax. |
Java-Script doesn’t care if functions aren’t called with exact parameters because any missing parameter is treated as “undefined” by default, and any extra arguments are treated as special arguments. |
| Properties and Attributes |
We can use getter and setter functions to define an attribute in Python using the descriptor protocol. |
JavaScript objects have properties that may be made up of underlying attributes and allow us to define a property. |
| REPL (Read-Eval-Print-Loop) |
We’ll get it when we install Python, and we’ll use different Python versions depending on our setup. |
Since Java-Script was mainly used in browsers, we didn’t have an in-built REPL. However, we may use the REPL by installing the node.js. |
| Numbers |
In Python, we may use various numeric types such as int, fixed-point decimal, float, and many others. |
In contrast, Java-Script only supports floating-point numbers. |
| Mutability |
Python has both mutable and immutable data types, including set and list. |
JavaScript has no data type like mutable and immutable. |
| Hash Tables |
It has built-in hash tables like dictionaries, collections, and others that may be used to store keys and values in a hash. |
There is no built-in support for hash tables. |
| Data Types |
Python has two data types that are similar to each other that is list and tuple. The Python’s list and JavaScript array are very much similar to each other. |
It has an inbuilt array type. |
| Modules |
Python refers to itself as a battery-included language since it comes with a large number of modules. |
JavaScript comes with just a few modules, including math, regexp, date, and JSON. It has functionality available via the host environment, such as a web browser or another environment. |
| Code Blocks |
It uses indentation. |
It uses curly brackets. |
| Inheritance |
It uses a class-based inheritance model. |
It uses a prototype-based inheritance model. |
| Scope |
Python is a better option for math-intensive operations, data analytics, and machine learning. |
JavaScript is suitable for developing a website or native app. |
| Mobile Development |
It is not a reasonable option for designing mobile apps. |
It is a good choice for mobile development in addition to front-end and back-end development. |
| Object Access |
Python’s first argument for each approach is a self-argument. |
JavaScript uses the ‘this’ method to accessing an object. |
Conclusion
Python and JavaScript have minor differences. We can do everything with both languages because they share many features such as interpreted, functional, lexically scoped, object-oriented, and imperative programming. Many libraries and plugins are available for Python and JavaScript to do more than what is provided as built-in functionality. While both have many job opportunities, Python has a stronger market presence and is also easier to learn.
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