Java vs Python – What’s better for your project?

Long lines of arguments for and against Java / Python. Which one to choose for your project?

If you are also currently seeking an answer to this conundrum, then you’re in luck!

Let’s take a close look at each technology, their pros and cons, and you will see that making the right choice is not that hard after all!

Comparison in Numbers

Facts matter. While adepts of different languages break a lance in debates, researchers have clear answers based on surveys. Let’s look at how Java and Python are compared in terms of overall popularity and salaries:

• GitHub Ranking (January 2019). Python with 14.75% monthly active users has recently captured the 2nd position leaving Java with 14.01% on the 3rd place.
• StackOverflow Survey (February 2019). All respondents have put Python on the 4th place with 41.7% (39.4% of pro devs) votes when Java sits just behind, on the 5th position with 41.1% (39.2% of professionals). It’s interesting that Python is 2nd among the most loved languages and the 1st of the most wanted to learn. Java is on the 18th and 9th positions, respectively.
• TIOBE Index (April 2019). Java holds the 1st seat with 15.04% popularity based on web search while Python is only 4th with 8.17%.

In addition, we’ve looked at salaries and jobs listed by Indeed. Java developers are more popular with 14,269 US employees and the average compensation of $102,768 per year. Python engineers have higher salaries of $123,686 per year on average but there are only 5,931 listings in the database.

It looks like Python is more demanded on the market while Java is generally more accessible. But what about functionality and other definitive features?

Java: Scalability and Speed

Java is a great powerful tool for building big projects that are easy to scale. You can use Java Platform to add as many features to the project as needed. Development environment comprises a wide choice of frameworks, plug-ins, APIs, libraries Runtime Environment and JVM (Java Virtual Machine). Using this pack of tools will let developers implement any of the business logic in one single project.

Developing huge projects with Java lets you run them at high speed. A good example of high-speed software is Twitter. It was initially developed with Ruby on Rails and then shifted to Java. Java Virtual Machine is now used for the back-end part of the web app.

One of the key features of Java – it’s object-oriented. This gives you a flexible and extensible development workflow. This language is popular and there’s a big number of certified developers. There’s a big community where developers can find information as well as contribute something useful.

Good for:

• Enterprise-scale projects like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Good performance and speed of work.
• Short development period. You can use JVM for delivering MVP in a short time.

Bad for:

• Analytics and statistics. Java cannot offer advanced packages for such projects.

SEE ALSO: New JAX Mag issue: Putting the spotlight on Java tools

Python: Flexibility and Ease

Python is good for web apps where you plan to have heavy traffic loads. It’s efficient and the code is easy to view. You will have less code than with the Java project, so the language is wonderful for newcomers or those who want to get the best readability. Moreover, the interpreted nature of Python helps to deliver applications via different platforms making the language suitable for general development.

The goal of Python developers is to find the only way to solve the task. There’s a big number of available libraries and it also has a good scalability feature. With high popularity boost thanks to DevOps industry, Python is widely used in deep learning and AI fields. Means, if you’re developing an innovative project with artificial intelligence features, think about Python.

Good for:

• Statistics and analysis. Python offers easy-to-use tools for developing projects for processing big blocks of information. There’s a convenient environment for integrating various web apps one with another.
• Machine learning. Python is a good choice here as there is a big number of libraries for crafting powerful software.

Bad for:

• Data processing. The language isn’t the best one for highly specialized apps designed to work with data.

SEE ALSO: Top Python use cases: Bringing machine learning to the enterprise

The Winner

Java and Python are both powerful languages and they share a lot of similar features. Java is compiled while Python is interpreted – there are differences as well. Choosing the right language for the project is not an easy one. Think if you want to have a scalable application, how many people will use it and how it can be updated in the future.

Overall, Java is a pretty fast language, so consider using it in projects where speed is important. On the other hand, Python is much simpler and user-friendly thanks to its plain code, so this language will be easier to learn. As for projects, mobile creators require Java knowledge often while AI experts and DevOps engineers work with Python.

Generally, it always depends on your needs. Remember the pros and cons of both languages to choose the most suitable one. Check out this infographic comparing Java and Python by Educba, here.

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