The Popularity of Python in a Java World – InApps 2025

The Popularity of Python in a Java World – InApps is an article under the topic Software Development Many of you are most interested in today !! Today, let’s InApps.net learn The Popularity of Python in a Java World – InApps in today’s post !

Key Summary

This article from InApps Technology, authored by Phu Nguyen and featuring Tom Radcliffe (a professional engineer and software development expert at ActiveState), examines the rising popularity of Python in a landscape dominated by Java. Published in 2022, it highlights Java’s top ranking on the TIOBE Community Index and its prevalence in big data, cloud services, software-defined networks (SDN), and Android development. However, Python is gaining ground, ranking fifth (up from eighth) and becoming the preferred language in introductory CS courses (80% of top 10 CS departments) and even surpassing French in UK primary schools. Python’s readability, facilitated by forced indentation, supports collaborative coding on platforms like GitHub, and its adoption by companies like Google, NASA, and Bank of America underscores its versatility. With strong community support (PyPI, Stack Overflow, GitHub) and high-paying roles (average salary $103,422), Python excels in data science, rapid prototyping, and emerging fields, positioning it to shape future development trends.

• Context:
  • Author: Tom Radcliffe, a 20-year software development veteran with a PhD in physics, passionate about data-driven processes and Bayesian probability.
  • Theme: While Java leads in enterprise and mobile development, Python’s simplicity, readability, and adoption in education and data science make it a strong contender for future dominance.
  • Source: TIOBE Community Index, Communications of the ACM, and International Business Times, alongside community metrics from GitHub, Stack Overflow, and PyPI.
• Java’s Dominance:
  • TIOBE Ranking: Java holds the #1 spot, growing in popularity, with strong presence in big data, cloud services, SDN, and Android (via Android SDK).
  • Resilience: Despite concerns about community issues or corporate stewardship (e.g., Oracle’s management), Java’s “pending death” is overstated.
  • Use Cases: Widely used in enterprise applications, mobile development, and infrastructure, maintaining its lead in established trends.
• Python’s Rise:
  • TIOBE Ranking: Python ranks #5, up from #8, reflecting growing adoption.
  • Education:
    • CS Education: 80% of top 10 and 69% of top 39 CS departments teach Python in CS0/CS1 courses, replacing Java as the introductory language (per Philip Guo, Communications of the ACM).
    • Primary Schools: Python has overtaken French as the most taught “language” in UK primary schools (International Business Times).
  • Readability:
    • Forced tabs/indentation makes Python highly readable, ideal for collaborative coding and code reviews on platforms like GitHub.
    • Drawback: Dynamically-typed variables can reduce readability in some cases, but overall syntax supports teamwork.
  • Adoption:
    • Used by major companies: YouTube, Google, Pinterest, Reddit, Quora, Bank of America, NASA, Boeing, US Army, and more.
    • Spans industries: IT, DevOps, system administration, web development, scientific computing, gaming, finance, legal, healthcare.
  • Community Strength:
    • GitHub: #4 language with over 33 million code results, 675,355 repositories, and 849,141 issues.
    • Stack Overflow: 481,655 Python tags, plus 38,475 for Python 2.7 and 24,833 for Python 3.x.
    • PyPI: 67,530 packages, with 3.4 million weekly downloads (~175 million annually), and top 10 packages garnering 449 million all-time downloads and 80 million weekly downloads.
  • Economic Value: Python professionals earn an average of $103,422 (per PayScale), comparable to Java, with 35,734 members in LinkedIn’s Python Professionals forum.
• Python vs. Java:
  • Education Shift: Java dominated AP courses and university CS curricula for a decade, but Python’s recent adoption in education signals a future workforce skilled in Python.
  • Use Cases:
    • Java: Excels in established trends (e.g., Android, big data, SDN), with robust enterprise adoption.
    • Python: Dominates data science and data analysis (competing with R), leveraging libraries like NumPy, Pandas, and TensorFlow. Its simplicity makes it ideal for rapid prototyping.
  • Future Outlook:
    • Python’s readability and community support position it for collaborative development and emerging fields.
    • A growing pool of Python-skilled developers from education will drive future trends, potentially outpacing Java in innovation.
• InApps Insight:
  • InApps Technology, ranked 1st in Vietnam and 5th in Southeast Asia for app and software development, specializes in Python-based solutions for data science, web development, and DevOps, alongside React Native, ReactJS, Node.js, Vue.js, Microsoft’s Power Platform, Azure, Power Fx (low-code), Azure Durable Functions, and GraphQL APIs (e.g., Apollo).
  • Offers outsourcing services for startups and enterprises, delivering cost-effective solutions at 30% of local vendor costs, supported by Vietnam’s 430,000 software developers and 1.03 million ICT professionals.
  • Relevance: Expertise in Python aligns with its growing adoption in education and industry, enabling rapid development of data-driven and cloud-native applications.
• Call to Action:
  • Contact InApps Technology at www.inapps.net or sales@inapps.net to develop Python-based applications or leverage data science for business innovation.

Read more about The Popularity of Python in a Java World – InApps at Wikipedia

You can find content about The Popularity of Python in a Java World – InApps from the Wikipedia website

Tom Radcliffe

Tom Radcliffe has over 20 years experience in software development and management in both academia and industry. He is a professional engineer (PEO and APEGBC) and holds a PhD in physics from Queen’s University at Kingston. Tom brings a passion for quantitative, data-driven processes to ActiveState. He is deeply committed to the ideas of Bayesian probability theory, and assigns a high Bayesian plausibility to the idea that putting the best software tools in the hands of the most creative and capable people will make the world a better place.

I love Python, but I have to admit that Java is still number one in the minds of many. Java developers are setting the pace in big data, cloud services, software-defined networks (SDN) and more. Even in the mobile space, Java is extremely popular, thanks to Android. But the future is up for grabs.

The most recent TIOBE Community Index puts Java in the number one slot, and growing. Worries about problems in the Java developer community, corporate stewardship, and other signs of its proclaimed pending death have been greatly exaggerated.

Python is no slouch, either. It is listed as number five on the same Index, up from spot eight a year ago. If I’m a developer making a choice between Java and Python, should I depend on these kinds of usage numbers?

The power of Python lies in what it may become. Philip Guo wrote an article in Communications of the ACM showing that “Eight of the top 10 CS departments (80 percent), and 27 of the top 39 (69 percent), teach Python in introductory CS0 or CS1 courses.” In addition, International Business Times recently noted that Python has overtaken French as the most taught “language” in primary schools.

Read More:   How Pernod Ricard Uses Amazon Web Services to Coordinate International Marketing Efforts – InApps Technology 2022

Why teach Python instead of Java, which was the dominant teaching language for the past decade? What are the implications for the future?

Most people think that Python is just easier for introductory courses. Young programmers enter the workforce and graduate to Java. Despite the “first love” of Python, usage statistics seem to indicate that this might be case. But is there more to it?

Remember that for the past decade both high school AP courses and CS introductory courses at universities were based on Java, not Python. The move to Python is recent. Truth is, we don’t yet know how this will impact the workforce.

The Power of Tabs

Although the forced use of tabs is often annoying to people new to Python, it helps make Python one of the most human-readable programming languages in wide use. I would argue that it is the most readable. This means it easier to collaborate on code and perform code reviews.

True: tabs and indentation are a subtle difference. I also acknowledge that Python has features, such as dynamically-typed variables, that make it difficult to read in some cases.

However, Python’s overall syntax makes it a better fit for a GitHub-loving world where code is meant to be read by groups of people, not just the programmer who wrote it.

While Python isn’t as popular as Java, it is in wide use. This is going to be important for programmers that learned Python in introductory college CS classes and stuck with it. Companies using Python include YouTube, Google, Pinterest, Reddit, Quora, Bank of America, Diebold, Lockheed Martin, NASA, Boeing, US Army and many more.

Here’s some statistics on Python showing the strength of the community:

• GitHub: Over 33 million code results and 675,355 repository results (Number four in programming languages on the site) with 849,141 issues.
• Stack Overflow: 481,655 tags for Python; 38,475 tabs for Python 2.7; 24,833 tags for Python 3.x; and many more specific Python tags.
• PyPI: the Python Package Index, a repository consisting of Python libraries, has 67,530 total packages and 3.4 million downloads/week, which equals at least 175 million downloads per year.
• PyPI Ranking, All-time: For the Top 10 downloads is over 449 million downloads.
• PyPI Ranking, This Week: For the Top 10 downloads is almost 80 million downloads.

Read More:   Newly Released ECMAScript 8 Sets the Stage for Concurrent JavaScript Processing – InApps 2022

Python Pays

According to PayScale, the average salary for a person with Python skills is $103,422. On LinkedIn, the Python Professionals forums has 35,734 members. There’s no indication that Python salaries are higher than Java salaries. The point I want to make is that the salaries are good enough to make a decent living. It’s not just a language used in education. Python makes an appearance in a number of industries, including IT, DevOps, system administration, software development (web), scientific computing, gaming, financial services, legal, healthcare and more.

The Stats Are with Python

Data scientists and data analysts are hailed as hot job titles for the past few years. Most data scientists are using R or Python, not Java. As this role becomes more important, and big data continues its upward trend, it will help Python more than Java. Whether Python will dominate over R is open to debate, which I would love to discuss in the future.

The problem with looking at the current big data, Android, and SDN development trends is that the trends are already established. You’re looking at a snapshot of today.

Although we don’t know what development languages will gain strength, we do know that a vast pool of people will be armed with Python programming skills.

The Python community benefits from a combination of a large base of people with Python skills and easy code readability for efficient peer review — the ease by which ideas can be turned into functional apps, therefore outshining Java as a rapid prototyping tool — just to name a few strengths.

My bet is that the future development trends are going to be set by Python developers.

Feature image: “javavspython1” with permission from Michelle. All rights reserved.

Source: InApps.net