Java vs Python ... ???

[Greg Weeks]

Scirious (Scirious at Scirious.com) wrote:
: I've been learning JAVA for a while, but now I've heard about Python.
: Any coments concerning these two languages?

IMO (this stuff is unprovable):

Python and Java are natural buddies in that they both have big ugly
competitors.  I see Python and Perl in a similar niche: high-level,
untyped-variables, "scripting".  This is a valuable niche, and Python fits
it exceedingly better than Perl.  I also see Java and C++ in a similar
niche: typed-variables, compiled, object-oriented, descendent of C.  This
is also a valuable niche, and Java fits it exceedingly better than C++
(putting aside performance!).

Other similarities:

    All data are implemented as memory addresses (with the exception of a
    few primitive types in Java).

    There is no explicit referencing/dereferencing.

    All arguments to functions are passed-by-value.

    Threads are easy to use.

All of these similarities are language strengths.

Despite my talk of niches, I don't have a clear idea of when I would choose
Java over Python...


Greg