Java is one of the most popular programming languages. However, slowly, but steadily, it is losing its popularity to a new programming language, Python.
Python recently moved Java from first place to the second in the academic language race. This mean Python is now the number one programming language when it comes to choosing a programming language to teach new students in the U.S. That’s huge considering that the newbies will be more skilled in Python programming languages.
So, is Java dying? Nope. However, it is losing its popularity. When compared with Python, Java is still one of the leading programming languages that are used to build enterprise level applications.
According to W3Tech, only 2.4% of the websites use Java. Python, in comparison, is only used just 0.2%. That’s a huge gap. But, that is not a concern right now.
Job Numbers
To better understand the rise or fall of a programming language, it is best to look at the job market. We went to Indeed.com and tried to fetch data for both Java and Python. We found out that Java is more than Python. But, that’s not the only thing that we found out. We also noticed the Java’s job results are slowly decreasing over the past few months. In comparison, Python’s demand is gradually growing. Let’s take a look at the image below.
As you can see, you will find hundreds of Java development company still looking for talent.
What’s the main difference between Python and Java?
To get a better grasp of which programming language will be used in future, let’s compare them. Before, we start, let’s go through a basic understanding of each language.
Python: Python is a dynamically typed programming language. It is a high-level programming language with the focus on core readability.
Java: Java is a class-based, object-oriented concurrent programming language. It is statically typed which means that each variable needs to be declared before use.
Readability
When it comes to readability, Python easily beats Java. To accomplish a simple task, Java required more code compared to Python. This means putting in more effort and time to do the same stuff. That’s why Java code base always seems to be big and is hard to manage.
Python, on the other hand, is all about readability. It is easy for programmers to maintain a Python codebase due to its English-like code.
Flexibility
When it comes to the library and version usage, Java seems to beat Python. For example, you can create an application in Java 8 and still use Java 7 libraries without more issues. This can be a handy feature considering you can always use the latest functions added to the programming language. Python, on the other hand, is not that flexible. It requires the programmer to choose the version upfront. It can be 2.x or 3.x.
Portability
The number one reason why Java is more used than Python right now is that of its portability. Java programmers can build cross-platform applications thanks to the Java Virtual Machine(JVM). It doesn’t depend on the system and runs universally. Python, on the other hand, requires Python compiler to be installed. It is also operating system dependent. That’s why Java is used for creating cross-platform apps as it doesn’t require any compiler or tools.
Performance
Performance is always on the side of Java. It doesn’t depend on any 3rd party tools or techniques to run faster. Comparatively, Python seems to slightly slow. But, its performance can be improved with the use of PyPy, CPython or Cython. They are Python’s runtime and improve performance significantly.
Android to the rescue
As you might already know, Java is used to power Android. Android is extremely popular and captures more than 85% of the mobile operating system market. The Android SDK, itself, is full of Java libraries. These give a massive boost to Java and its future.
Conclusion
If you consider everything, it is hard to say which programming language will be the future. Both programming languages have their usage and offer great features. However, there is still a possibility that Python might take over in future. For instance, if we consider newest technologies, most of them use Python due to its ease of use. Python undoubtedly holds value for almost every sector including scientific research. All we need to do is wait and see what happens next.
