Learning Python or JavaScript

These days, there are a lot of different programming languages available to learn. Some or better than others, but when it comes to the most popular ones, it all boils down to your own, personal preferences and expectations. It might still, however, be difficult to choose a specific programming language to learn, especially if you’ve never had anything to do with programming before. This is why it’s a good idea to read up on some online reviews and tutorials to help you get a better idea of which programming languages are better for what situations. And in this Python VS JavaScript tutorial, we are going to try and answer that question. In the very beginning, we’ll talk about each of the two languages themselves. A lot of people want to know “should I learn Python or JavaScript?”, but they don’t really do some proper research beforehand. After that’s done, we’ll move on and talk about some of the most important aspects of a good programming language. Finally, at the end of this JavaScript VS Python review, we’ll compare both of these languages according to the criteria set earlier.

Introduction

Before we go ahead and unlock the topic of Python VS JavaScript, let’s get the elephant out of the room first – why should you even bother learning programming, in the first place? Programming is a great skill to possess – that goes without saying. First of all, it’s a super practical skill to learn – you can apply it in many different scenarios in your own, personal life. Furthermore, learning programming can open up a whole new world to you – a world with its own set of rules, guidelines and other intricacies to follow. It can be viewed as a form of “broadening your horizons”, so to speak. However, needless to say, that is not the main reason why people learn programming. And that probably isn’t the main reason why you’ve clicked on this Python VS JavaScript comparison article, either. No, the main reason is much more well-known and sought-after – a stable, guaranteed career path. With programming, you can be almost certain that you have your future career planned out for you. The job market doesn’t lie – even though there are a lot of people that “get into” programming every single day, the demand for good programmers isn’t slowing one single bit. This is important – it shows just how much good and reliable programmers are truly needed! Furthermore, with this skill at your disposal, you can even get into freelancing – there are a lot of cool, one-off jobs to perform, and you can set your own rates according to your skill level. And that’s the other thing, too – a programmer salary is often something to dream for!

Whatever your reasons for learning programming are – it’s a great choice! Now, if only you could be able to easily choose – Python or JavaScript? Oh wait – you can! All with the help of this Python VS JavaScript article, that is. Now that we’ve talked a bit about the reasons for learning programming, let’s move on to the information that you’ve come here to find out “should I learn Python or JavaScript?”. We’ll try to answer that question, but first, we need to have a little background information about the two programming languages in question.

Python

Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language. It was created all the way back in 1991 by a man named Guido van Rossum. The (quote on quote) “unique” thing about Python – the thing that this programming language aims to stress – is that it’s concerned with a readability of its code, which includes a significant amount of whitespace. One of the great features of Python (especially if you’re a complete beginner in the world of programming) is that it’s very easy to learn, at least when compared to some of the other popular programming languages out there. It was designed this way – the fact that it’s a very high-level programming language is a great thing in this case! It means that Python is super easy to read, and it takes away a lot of the time that you would otherwise spend learning coding. However, it should be mentioned that when it comes to Python VS JavaScript discussions, this is also often stressed as a bad thing – sure, it’s awesome to be able to get into programming through as easy of a way as possible, but many industry veterans say that this isn’t something that a beginner should do. Rather, a newbie programmer should learn some of the more difficult, even “archaic” programming languages, and then move on to the easier ones – this will help the person develop a pretty good idea of the world of programming, and help him or her to better understand all of the intricacies involved. However, to each their own, I guess. Another great feature that Python is infamous for is its flexibility. It’s one of the most flexible programming languages out there! This flexibility means that Python can be used in multiple different scenarios, such as desktop and web app creation, data mining, etc. Now that you know a bit about the basics of Python’s side of the Python VS JavaScript discussion, let’s even out the playing field and talk a little bit about JavaScript.

JavaScript

JavaScript (most commonly referred to by its acronym – JS) is a high-level, interpreted programming (scripting) language. Programming languages that are also ‘scripting’ languages are those who can run scripts in addition to their code. These scripts automate certain specific runtime processes, eliminating the need for a real person to perform these processes by hand. JS was created by Mr. Brendan Eich, back in 1995 (this makes JavaScript 4 years younger than Python). It was created to be a complementary programming language to Java, possessing a very similar syntax and all of that.

JavaScript is famous for being a very simple and easy-to-use programming language. Furthermore, it excels in some places where a lot of the most popular programming languages (i.e. PHP) fail to. For example, JavaScript can be added to most of the web pages out there, no matter what the extension it is that they’re using. The same cannot be said about most of the other, popular programming languages, however. Another thing that’s definitely worth mentioning is that JavaScript (honestly, same as Python) has a great online community that supports this programming language to the furthest extent. And whenever a programming language is so loved and supported, you can be sure that it’s doing something right. Right – now that we’re done with the first part of the Python VS JavaScript comparison article, we can move on to talking about the actual criteria that we’ll be evaluating both of these programming languages through. So, if you’re wondering “should I learn Python or JavaScript?” – read on!

Evaluation Criteria

Admittedly, there are multiple different points that a programming language needs to have covered for it to be successful and, well… For it to simply be good. However, if we were to cover all of them, we would never finish this JavaScript VS Python tutorial. That is why we’ll only be talking about three big aspects – simplicity, abstraction, and popularity. By no means are these three points the only important ones out there. However, I do believe that if a programming language (in our case – whether Python or JavaScript) has these points covered, it can expect to be on the top of any programmer’s list of “languages that I need to learn”. So, without further ado, let’s quickly go over the three points. Afterward, we’ll move straight to the Python VS JavaScript comparison itself.

Simplicity

In the 21st century, this should be a no-brainer. A programming language has to be simple to use – end of story… Or is it? Well, it’s actually complicated. Quite a few programming languages around the world are still using complex code expressions in their syntax. It has almost reached the point of elitism – some hardcore veterans refuse to use the newer, simpler programming languages. However, whatever your opinion on the matter would be, one thing’s for certain – the industry dictates the trends. Since more and more people want to learn programming ASAP, these languages are becoming increasingly simplistic every single year.

Abstraction

If you’re completely new to the world of programming, this might sound like a very odd term. However, it’s actually rather important – many programming languages seek to be “abstract”, and it’s a point that’s important in this Python VS JavaScript comparison. So, what does it mean? If you’ve never encountered the term before, it might be a bit difficult to understand. To give you the simplest of explanations (and a very TL;DR one, at that), abstraction is when a programming language define complicated structures and then uses them, ignoring all of the small details. It might sound counterproductive, but it’s actually a very important feature to have – OOP-based (Object-Oriented Programming) programming languages usually posses this feature.

Popularity

Now, I know what you might be thinking – what is this trivial nonsense? How does popularity come into play when it comes to a Python VS JavaScript comparison? Well, hear me out – it actually makes a whole lot of sense. Popularity doesn’t necessarily mean “mindless attraction”. When it comes to programming languages, popularity is actually something that you’ll want to look for! A popular programming language will have a lot of dedicated fans who are constantly using and supporting it. However, despite even that, there’s the learning side of things. Imagine this situation – you really want to learn a programming language, whether it be one of the Python VS JavaScript debacle, or some other. You go online, all hyped up and ready to start studying, only to find that there’s a very limited amount of information available, and even that is super unclear. You wouldn’t, however, encounter this problem with a popular programming language – all of the most talked-about programming languages have entire forums and websites dedicated to their learning and research. Now that you have some context behind all of the three points, let’s finally jump into our JavaScript VS Python comparison and see how these two programming languages fair against each other.

Python VS JavaScript – The Comparison

For the sake of simplicity, I won’t go too in-depth and am going to compare the two programming language point-by-point.

Which one is more Simple?

This might seem like a difficult question to answer at first, but if you’ve tried using both of these languages, the answer is actually pretty clear. Even though both Python and JS are similar when it comes to their complexity (or, rather, simplicity), Python has to be quite simpler. It isn’t considered to be one of the most simple programming languages out there without a reason – even though JS isn’t at all what you would call “difficult” to learn, Python still requires less effort (according to most of the online Python VS JavaScript reviews).

Which one is more Adaptable?

The answer to this question boils down to an even more simple question – which one is OOP-based?

Truth be told, both programming languages are rather similar here, too. By that, I mean that they are both OOP-based. The only notable difference is that Python is an OOP language, while JS is an OOP scripting language. This does not, however, dispute the point.

Which one is more Popular?

Finally, we have the popularity aspect. And, as you might have expected, yet again these two programming languages are similar in their claim to popularity. With that being said, however, Python does seem to be becoming more and more popular as time goes on. It’s simplicity and community support has breached the walls of the mainstream – it’s one of the most talked-about and referenced programming languages in the world!

Conclusions

As you can probably see for yourself, it’s rather difficult to find a clear “winner” in the discussion of Python VS JavaScript. Python does seem to be more popular and easier to learn, but JS also has its strengths in certain, specific areas. That said, it all boils down to your own personal preferences – depending on your reasoning behind learning one of these two programming languages, you might pick either one. So, I hope that this Python VS JavaScript tutorial was useful to you, and that you’ve learned something new! Until next time!