Python vs JavaScript: Making a Fair Comparison and Picking the Winner

Quick Overview: Choosing between two widely popular programming languages is always a tough and challenging task. In this article, we will clear your doubts regarding the main differences between Python and JavaScript. However, both programming languages have their perks and disadvantages. We will also explain in detail, helping you choose the right language for your project. Curious to find out? Read further.

The software development field is outright dynamic and unpredictable.This is why the software market is booming, and you can expect it to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.5% by 2030. If you have been in this industry for at least a couple of years, pretty sure you are familiar with the gush of changes influencing the decisions of developers and business leaders.

While some technologies entered the market and took everyone by storm in a dramatically short span of time, others have gone forever without any recognition. Hence, choosing one with great popularity, high demand, and extensive use cases is critically important before you start working on a project.

To help you deal with such never-ending confusion, we have decided to talk about two renowned programming languages today that we, as a software development company, take a big interest in – Python vs JavaScript.

In general, Python is a programming language that conforms to code readability and compact syntax, whereas JavaScript focuses on ECMAScript standards.

However, it’s not as simple as that. There is a range of factors to compare these two old stagers and choose the best one for your project. And this blog aims to dive deep into the yardstick.

Let's commence!

Python and Its Backdrop of Becoming One of the Top Programming Languages

Let’s begin our JS vs Python discussion with a bit of introduction to them.

Python first came to light in 1991 as a general-purpose language to resolve any quantifiable and describable problems in code. Thanks to web development tech stacks like Django, it has seen surging popularity in the academic environment, data processing, machine learning, and much more. In fact, for the last five years, Python has been enjoying increased interest compared to its rival.

The coolest thing about Python development is its simplicity, with an easy-to-learn and hard-to-master approach. Even if you are not tech-savvy, it will not take much time for you to automate fundamental processes like develop an MVP, shifting data from one program to another, or scraping data from a web app.

And if you give all you have got to master this technology, you can harness its power to seamlessly develop a wide array of modern software.

Key Features of Python

• Fast to develop and easy to code
• Multiple modules and libraries for all domains
• Free and open-source with a large developer community
• Offers simplicity in complex operations
• Perfect for software prototyping or production-ready apps

Major Companies Using Python

• Instagram
• Spotify
• Google
• Netflix
• Pinterest

JavaScript and Its Journey to Becoming the Universal Programming Language

Next up in our Python vs JavaScript talk is JavaScript – the 1995 technology striving to make the web into a real app platform with more interactivity.

Although it was a limited programming language in the beginning for low internet speed, poor marketing, design choices, lack of cross-browser compatibility, and low bandwidth, modern JavaScript frameworks like jQuery, React, Vue, TezJS and AngularJS, eventually removed the issues.

And now, programmers and enterprises hail JavaScript development as a superior solution front-end and back-end development as well as dynamic and interactive user experience. In fact, 98% of all the existing websites use JavaScript as client-side language:

All in all, it’s a versatile programming language that enables developers to build high-performing software with multiple frameworks and libraries.

Key Features

• Offers interactive elements for web pages
• Object-oriented scripting language
• Has full support for DOM manipulation
• Works on both server-side and client-side
• Provides more control over the browser
• Offers added dependencies

Major Companies Using JavaScript

• Microsoft
• Uber
• Facebook
• PayPal
• eBay

Python vs JavaScript: A Side-by-Side Comparison

Before we move on to discuss the difference between Python and JavaScript, it’s important for you to remember that these two of the greatest programming languages do not necessarily replace each other. As a matter of fact, you can make the most of their benefits by using them together. Instagram handles its enormous traffic by doing so – using JavaScript for the client-side and Python for the server-side.

But since we are here to pick up a clear winner between them, we have dug into their worlds and brought up a set of parameters to compare and contrast. Here are the key factors you should take into account:

1. Python vs JavaScript: Speed and Performance

In terms of speed and performance, Python is a great choice for CPU-intensive tasks, whereas JavaScript is more suitable for dynamic and real-time interactions.

The whole purpose of inventing JavaScript was to make it fast on the web with improved user engagement. Hence, it's moderately faster due to the multithreading feature of Node.js, which Python lacks. That's why the topic of Node.js vs Python for back-end development is often relevant in the development industry.

On the flip side, Python is the best solution for the processing of huge data files, CPU-intensive projects, and large-scale applications. And if you work with a Python app development company that knows how to optimize Python code with Cython or NumPy, it will result in enhanced performance as well.

2. Python vs JavaScript: Popularity

The criterion of popularity between JavaScript vs Python has been changing its form as both these languages have been winning the hearts of users for their own unique strengths. But if we have to be more precise, Python has been taking the edge in recent times.

According to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2022, JavaScript is the most commonly used programming language (10th in a row).

Python app development, on the other hand, is recently flipping the boat upside down, as demonstrated in some surveys. For example, the June 2024 PYPL Index stated that Python is the most popular programming language, pushing JavaScript to the third position.

And according to the TIOBE Programming Community Index 2024, Python has secured the top position, beating C++, C, Java, and JavaScript.

3. Python vs JavaScript: Scalability

On the subject of scalability, JavaScript apps are highly scalable for their multithreading feature, whereas Python apps are less scalable as they run one thread at a time.

If you want your application to scale as per growing business requirements, you should straight away consider Node.js development solutions that are on JavaScript. You can increase the number of threads and scale the application whenever needed.

Contrastingly, Python uses GIL (Global Interpreter Lock) that does not support concurring programming very well, and hence, makes it harder to use multiple processors with threads. However, you can use its multiprocessing library to get the upper hand on distributed workflow.

4. Python vs JavaScript: Learning Curve

JavaScript has a steeper learning curve and is not very easy to learn, whereas Python is the most beginner-friendly language and hence, a lot simpler to grasp.

Between JS vs Python, the reasons why beginners usually prefer Python are its fewer structural lines, concise and readable code, simple functions and variables, and faster development process. On the contrary, it is comparatively a lot harder to get the hang of JavaScript. It’s full of complicated class definitions and hence, is not easy to debug.

5. Python vs JavaScript: Inheritance

There are four fundamental principles of object-oriented programming language, and inheritance is one of them. This approach refers to the capability of one class to inherit the methods and attributes of the parent class or any other class.

JavaScript is not a pure object-oriented programming language, whereas Python is an authentic OOP language using a class-based inheritance structure. Although JavaScript ushered in the concept of classes, it depends on a software prototype-based model to support inheritance.

6. Python vs JavaScript: Modules and Libraries

Python comes with many ready-to-use modules and libraries, whereas JavaScript does not have as many in-built modules as Python except a few, like JSON and Math.

Python is essentially a “batteries included” language and thus offers an extensive set of components to enable developers to perform multiple tasks like machine learning, data analytics, and scientific programs. Contrastingly, JavaScript consists of a few pre-configured modules. But you can hire dedicated developers and extend its functionality via the host environment.

7. Python vs JavaScript: Numeric Types

Between Python vs JavaScript for backend, Python features multiple varieties of numeric data types, whereas JavaScript offers only floating-type variables.

Numeric data types are the data stored in the database columns in the form of numbers and not in any descriptive form. As you can arithmetically and statistically calculate numeric types, they stand different from other types of data. Although JavaScript has a limited set of variables, modern V8 engines and browsers support also support a new primitive type.

On the other hand, Python comes with an array of numeric data variables such as float, fixed-point decimal, and int.

8. Python vs JavaScript: Implicit Conversion

In terms of implicit conversion, JavaScript is a weaky-typed programming language, whereas Python is strongly-typed.

Simply put, implicit data type conversion does not happen in Python. However, it allows both dynamic typing and strong typing. In the case of JavaScript, it provides implicit data type conversion and therefore is weakly-typed.

For instance, the type conversion in JavaScript will happen as the following:

3 + ‘3’; //The output is ‘33’, a string

But if you run the same thing on Python, you will end up with a TypeError. Dynamic typing refers to a variable’s potential to alter its type according to its assignment at any given type.

9. Python vs JavaScript: Web and Mobile Development

Web apps built with JavaScript code better, work faster, and manage a pile of data, whereas Python web development takes longer to respond.

JavaScript excels in this field due to the asynchronous programming nature of the best Node.js frameworks that offer high-end scalability to the apps. On the flip side, Python is the perfect choice for the server-side, provides a steady environment with frameworks like Django, Pyramid, and Flask, and optimizes the development process.

It's possible to create GUI apps with Python, although it did not support the development of native-looking mobile apps in the beginning. And developers frequently use JavaScript for mobile app development as well, though its primary goal was website development and management.

Now to put a cherry on the top, we have summarized some other key differences between Python vs JavaScript in the following table. Take a quick look at it and pick your winner!

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Concluding Thoughts on Python vs JavaScriptEverything we discussed in this blog points to the conclusion that comparing these two technologies is not a fair decision. Python and JavaScript came into existence with different purposes, leading to their distinct use cases in the modern programming world.And it’s precisely those distinctions that empower these programming languages to seamlessly complement each other in software development.So, what does that hold for their future? Currently, JavaScript is the most popular web and mobile app development language, and as for Python, it is going to rule the academia and ML market for its ease of use and ability to manipulate data.In the end, the Python vs JavaScript decision relies on your project requirements, the availability of developers, and several other factors. And if you are still not sure, reach out to Radixweb experts and get your confusion cleared right away!