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Ask HN: Is Python dying?

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Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?

#161

Post by CuriouslyC »

Python isn't going anywhere. No other language has such a rich set of tools for the complete analytic workflow from data acquisition and transformation, through analysis to end product creation (i.e. web/application development). I think in terms of an exploratory/prototyping language it is going to be at the top of the heap for a long time.

Julia is an extremely interesting language, in some ways it is more "pythonic" than Python (at least in regards to consistency), while also being surprisingly lisp-like. Unfortunately, the library ecosystem is still extremely immature. Within ten or fifteen years, I expect Julia will take over pretty much all of Python's niches.

As for systems/backend code, I'd bet on Scala over go; much more interesting language, and able to leverage the massive java ecosystem.

Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?

#162

Post by jay_kyburz »

There are a lot of great comments in here already but I'll add my 2c anyhow because it's something I have been thinking a lot about lately.

Python is my absolute favorite language without a doubt.

But Python is dying for ME

I think there is a lot of value in having front and back end code in the same language.

Python is significantly slower than JavaScript and I just don't want to have to run 2x the number of servers to handle the same number of requests.

I host my games on App Engine. Google has no public plans to move Python app engine to Py3. Python 2 EOL is just 5 years away. I move slow - need to start moving now.

-- Also while on the topic, let me just rant about how great the Python Standard Library is and how much I hate NPM and the javaScript ecosystem. I really hate having to evaluate 5 ways of doing every little thing. I wish the node folks would start building a batteries included standard library.

Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?

#164

Post by tanlermin »

CuriouslyC wrote: post #161

Python isn't going anywhere. No other language has such a rich set of tools for the complete analytic workflow from data acquisition and transformation, through analysis to end product creation (i.e. web/application development). I think in terms of an exploratory/prototyping language it is going to be at the top of the heap for a long time. Julia is an extremely interesting language, in some ways it is more "pythoni…

You think it will take that long?

Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?

#165

Post by zerohp »

gkya wrote: post #98
mixedCase wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>the language and the tooling suffer from dogmatism and inflexibility The inflexibility and dogmatism of the language is its biggest strength, lending it to create universally readable codebases that any Go programmer can pick up and be productive with. The tooling has never stopped improving, and Go 1.6 is going to make the VENDOREXPERIMENT an official, supported part of the language. Plus the real reason why backen…

Go tries to make code readable via dumbed down features and arbitrary rules. The tooling hasn't stopped changing. Improving? Not as sure. In the last paragraph you compare oranges to apples. Python has never promised to be fast, its promise is convenient use, easy start up and interactive development. Go on the other hand a speed focused thing that gives up developers' comfort for dogma and modern features for ease o…

Don't forget that dumbed down features and arbitrary rules were what made Java popular.

Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?

#166

Post by kedean »

spiralpolitik wrote: post #88
viraptor wrote: post #5

That may be a view through the distorted HN lenses. Spend some time on Lambda the Ultimate and you'll think imperative programming is dying. Go is new and has lots of issues. It's annoying on many fronts and badly needs improvements in packaging area. It's good for some things and worse for others. JS is for frontend, because it's the only supported language. (although there are python-to-js compilers available if yo…

Next year has always been the year that functional programming will take over the world. It's been like that since I started programming in the early 90s. While functional concepts have leaked into imperative languages, Haskell is the only pure functional language that so far has come close to breaking out although Lisp has also gotten close a few times. (see also next year will be the year of Linux on Desktop)

Clojure and Scala have gotten close as well. I've seen Scala in use at scale at both universities and corporations. Clojure is being used in production by at least a few well known companies, too. Both have the primary benefit of being backed by the JVM.

Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?

#167

Post by harlowja »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #142
2bitencryption wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My prediction is that one day some alternative Python interpreter (Stackless, or GIL-less, or which compiles ahead of time to machine code, or something like that) will go from being merely an interesting concept to a dominant runtime. Python is such an excellent language, and it only has a small handful of elements holding it back from being even better. I feel like eventually something has to give, and either there…

It's unlikely unless someone with deep pockets steps up, such as a corporate benefactor. But it will continue to improve as it does every other year.

FATpython is starting to become some of this.

https://fosdem.org/2016/schedule/event/fat_python/

Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?

#168

Post by transfire »

Believe it or not COBOL is still a thing. So it is doubtful Python will ever die die. At least not for a very long time. But, and I think this answer is probably more to the real spirit of your question, one could reasonably argue that Python has reached it's peak.

Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?

#169

Post by alien3d »

yorktimsson wrote: post #99
hoodoof wrote: post #36

http://www.simplyhired.com/search?q=python Showing 1-10 of 169,970 Python jobs http://www.simplyhired.com/search?q=ruby Showing 1-10 of 128,305 Ruby jobs http://www.simplyhired.com/search?q=java Showing 1-10 of 190,126 Java jobs http://www.simplyhired.com/search?q=golang Showing 1-10 of 219 Golang jobs http://www.simplyhired.com/search?q=julia Showing 1-10 of 206 Julia jobs http://www.simplyhired.com/search?q=%22pyth…

http://www.simplyhired.com/search?q=perl Showing 1-10 of 220,326 Perl jobs

Last time i interview also asking for perl and some automation adobe . I only used perl in 2001. Currently code in PHP and C#. Now thinking back, i need to relearn PERL again.:P

Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?

#170

Post by ZLeviathan »

Alex3917 wrote: post #16

Not only is Python not dying, but it's stronger than it's ever been. The majority of top colleges are now teaching CS using Python. It's completely dominant in academia, finance, and startups. It has the best libraries and documentation of any language. And Django has arguably the strongest community of any open source project period. That's not to say there are zero problems, but Python is so much better than all th…

You must be joking!
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