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Ask HN: Is Python dying?
201–210 of 369 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
With the popularity of Apache Spark in big data, Scala is definitely gaining a lot of traction.
Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Scala seems to have some momentum. I've wondered if the companies that have adopted it are using it like jvm haskell or a just a better java?
Few people are treating it like jvm haskell in production, although a certain subset of really loud people wish it wasn't otherwise. They all tend to work in the same OSS projects, while the rest of the community does their best to pretend they don't exist.
I think that the reality of modern scala is that, while there is in no way a unified use of the language, the way to use Scala is in its own, intermediate location. Libraries have big gains from the most exotic features that make it be closer to FP, like higher kinded types. while business code tends to look more like java with case classes and algebraic data types. The difficult part is the fuzzy middle.
Another important part of adoption is that Scala's strengths lie in a few good libraries that underpin some great use cases. For instance, using Scalding or Spark as ways to do big data, or building other kinds of distributed systems on top of Akka. For other uses, like writing simple CRUD services, there are many options, and almost all of them are bad, which is why treating the language as just a better Java just doesn't fly.
Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?
#204Julia? Now you're just making me laugh. Julia has a lot of potential but won't even begin to scratch Python for about 5 more years. Scientific programming is very very addicted to its tools. There is a reason even SciPy (for Python) is compiled Fortan (yes Fortan!) code. R is king for data science and the only reason it lost ground to Python is that R is a one trick pony compared to jack of all trades Python.
It's called the Lindy Effect:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect
Python (and Fortran), having survived this long, seem destined to live a lot longer than the challengers.
Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?
#205Not 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…
> Not only is Python not dying, but it's stronger than it's ever been.
Yeah, I've followed Python since about 2000. For the next 5yrs there was steady growth as it displaced Perl. But it was looking quite shaky/vulnerable around 7-10yrs ago when Rails was growing fast with lots of hype.
Around that time publishers almost stopped writing any Python books at all. Look at it now though - Python is probably in the top three most popular languages for programming books at the moment. I've never noticed so much Python stuff around before.
Now that I'm moving to a more Ruby focussed devops job, I've had a look around for new modern Ruby books and I've noticed they've almost dried up completely.
Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?
#206Python has been the #1 language/technology in Hacker News whoishiring threads 11 of the past 12 months[1]. Seems to be a fine time to invest. (Disclaimer: I publish these trends) [1] http://www.ryan-williams.net/hacker-news-hiring-trends/2016/...
I think that says it all. Your HN Hiring Trends site is awesome!
Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?
#207http://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=cobol Showing 1-10 of 131,923 Cobol jobs
Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Though it is strong in data-heavy environments (with all it's issues nonetheless). Which is why numpy and scipy are so full-featured and pretty damn fast.
Techincally, Numpy and SciPy are C and Fortran extensions to Python, not Python code.
I'm not sure if that's the best way to describe them. IMO, NumPy/SciPy are probably best described as Python wrappers for a wide range of C and Fortran codes, but they add quite a lot of value on top of that. If you've ever used e.g. LAPACK or VODE directly, you'll probably have horrible memories that you prefer not to recall. NumPy and SciPy have a large contribution in that they unify (admittedly, neither is really a paragon of consistency, but...) a huge range of disparate libraries under a much more accessible interface.
To say NumPy or SciPy is just the sum of the libraries it uses is a bit like calling MATLAB a fancy interface for LAPACK. That really was what MATLAB was intended to be originally, but to reduce it to that is missing the appeal. As somebody who absolutely loathes MATLAB, even I wouldn't think that is fair.
Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?
#209http://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…
Keep in mind that scripting languages are often mentioned in job postings as secondary skills. There are TONS of "Java/C++ developer, would be nice if you knew some Python or Ruby" which get counted as "Python jobs" when you do something like this.
Re: Ask HN: Is Python dying?
#210Earlier 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…
A slightly leaner object model with a fast runtime would make it perfect.
Anything that breaks code AGAIN will kill the language for sure.