Should I look into learning Python?

fuzzybabybunny

Moderator<br>Digital & Video Cameras
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Jan 2, 2006
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So I was doing research for a friend on some programming bootcamps. There's one that focuses on Python as their main language instead of the usual Ruby or JavaScript.

I've never done anything with Python, but after looking into it a little bit it seems like it can be used for:

- web stuff - Django
- hardware - arduino and raspberry
- desktop applications

It seems to me that Python is a really, really general purpose language that can do just about anything.

What are your experiences with it?
 
Feb 25, 2011
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I use it a lot at work; mostly for system automation tasks. Some of the third party modules like requests are handy if you have to coordinate info from a bunch of different applications with REST APIs.

It _is_ a fully featured programming language with lots of cool stuff, that you can use to develop applications. But I tend to think of it like bash, with better data manipulation capabilities. (Which you could tell if you read my code.)
 

frowertr

Golden Member
Apr 17, 2010
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I love Python but Im pretty new to it. Only been using it for about 6 months.

I wouldnt use it for developing desktop based apps or for Android development but its great for most other things. It has tons of great libraries built in so it gives you lots of tools to use.
 

sdifox

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Sep 30, 2005
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I love Python but Im pretty new to it. Only been using it for about 6 months.

I wouldnt use it for developing desktop based apps or for Android development but its great for most other things. It has tons of great libraries built in so it gives you lots of tools to use.


Just curious, why wouldn't you build desktop app in python? Well hybrid c, c++ and python, like Blender.
 

frowertr

Golden Member
Apr 17, 2010
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Just curious, why wouldn't you build desktop app in python? Well hybrid c, c++ and python, like Blender.

I guess depending on the complexity, I think Id probably make it a web app and use Flask if I needed something like that. I find Python a bit challenging to get libraries and dependencies packaged together for end user deployment.

I guess the other reason is speed as well. Although this may or may not be a factor. Really depends on what your program is doing.
 

you2

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Apr 2, 2002
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python can have some perf issues when every cycle matters (esp threaded programs); but for quick prototyping it is pretty decent. It is sort of a system scripting language; where as ruby/javascript tend towards web presentation. This barrier is not rigid but the languages have different strengths and weaknesses. Personally I tend to stick with c/c++ for most of my stuff since i'm fairly fluent with socket et all and prefer to be a little closer to the 'metal' than python. However my browser isn't going to run c++ but it will run javascript just fine....