Being a business manager or owner, you’re already spending much of your time and efforts towards ensuring the software outsourcing company that you have partnered with is reliable enough for all your needs. However, with needs highly apt to change, you want to continue ensuring that your software development teams are equipped with the right skill sets in order to do their best work.
As a result, you may be wondering whether Java or Python developers are better suited for your software project. Here, we shed light on the key similarities and differences between the two programming languages – as well as relevant questions to ask to help determine which skill sets are bound to be the best fit.
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Both Java and Python are popular in equal proportions, thereby making them reliable if chosen for any software project. Thanks to this vast level of popularity, Java and Python are home to numerous frameworks and libraries, with extensive support from developers across the community.
Peer-to-peer support of this nature is highly valuable for new developers who are just starting out, as well as assisting developers for solving problems, repurposing useful bits of code or for simply finding a better way to execute a certain task.
Java and Python are both Object Oriented Programming (OOP) languages, which means that software is structured around data, instead of functions. As a result, both Java and Python produce code that is:
Python is easier to learn compared to Java, mainly owing to syntax; while Python uses simpler syntax that resembles English, Java incorporates more terminology, as variable types need to be pre-declared. Owing to these rules, Java feels ‘stricter’, and therefore, more difficult, as opposed to Python.
Java, being a statically typed language i.e. having to declare variable types in advance, is also fully compiled into machine code before it is run. Conversely, Python, as a dynamically typed language, doesn’t need any variable type declarations done in advance, and is also interpreted line-by-line into machine code, before runtime. These factors create significant differences when it comes to overall performance, between the two programming languages.
While Python is bound to be faster during the development stage, not pre-declaring variable types could mean more errors within the code. Java, thanks to its pre-declarations of variable types and its combination of full compilation prior to runtime can produce code with less errors – even though development time may be longer owing to a more complex syntax.
Considering the similarities and differences of Java and Python, as well as the subsequent advantages and disadvantages that surface between the two as a result, each programming language can be optimised for varying use cases:
As a result, there is no top choice; Java and Python each have their share of strengths that can be leveraged, while minimising the effects of any limitations.
If your business already partners with a software outsourcing company, they are the best source of advice when it comes to which programming language is best suited to your project’s needs. Whether you need to exclusively hire Java developers to augment your existing team, for example, or if your existing developer set is sufficient, is best determined by conducting an assessment of your existing project.
On the other hand, if your business is just starting out with a brand new software project, the same assessment still applies. Here, we outline suitable questions you can ask your team members (both on the business and IT outsourcing sides) in order to determine the best choice of developers, when it comes to the exclusive needs of your project:
With numerous circumstances surrounding your end application, its objectives and the skill sets available within your existing development teams, much feedback and concerns are bound to surface by having teams address the above questions. Collate all the feedback you’ve gathered into one master document, as it can serve as a primary point of reference when you want to hire IT team members.
It may also just be that your software development team shall have to use a combination of Java and Python for your project. A mobile app that depends on accurate data analyses and outputs is a prime example; while the backbone of the app is coded in Java, analytics components can be based on Python.
Java and Python are both indispensable programming languages today, thanks to the positive attributes that each offers for building powerful yet highly scalable applications. Being OOP languages, both Java and Python focus on data as opposed to functions, thereby rendering them more secure and flexible than their POP (Procedural Oriented Programming) counterparts.
However, Java’s static typing and Python’s opposing dynamic typing qualities create prominent differences, when it comes to ease of use and performance. Through static typing, declaring variable types beforehand is a must, making Java harder to grasp – but significantly faster and less prone to errors during execution.
Python, with its dynamic typing quality, is easier to learn. But line-by-line interpretation and not having to pre-declare variable types means that it will execute slower, while also producing errors as variable types are inferred, and could be incorrect.
All strengths and weaknesses considered, Java and Python continue to be massively popular, as each programming language can be utilised for different use cases; while Java is ideal for large-scale enterprise applications, Python is suitable for data science and analytics purposes.
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