Java Vs. Python

Java and Python both have evolved as powerful programming computer programing languages and being a modern-day developer,  you need to know the concept of both languages.

In this tutorial, we would like to present you with a brief comparative analysis of Java and Python so that after having initial knowledge of both, you can choose your path for your career.

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Platform Independence

Java is truly a platform-independent language. Thanks to JVM, you can expect a 100% guarantee of the "Write Once, Execute Anywhere" principle. But Python is not purely platform-independent. The byte code produced within the Python interpreter itself is platform-independent, but when Python virtual machine takes help from the support libraries to execute the bytecode, the inclination towards the specific platform comes into play as support libraries might not be platform-independent. 

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Compilation Style

Java Program is compiled to byte code and then byte code is interpreted by the JVM to be executed. Whereas Python programs are directly interpreted to be executed. But within the Python interpreter, there are compilers, byte codes, and virtual machines as well. The difference between Java Compiler and the Python compiler is that the Java compiler has to translate source codes with a known data type to some primitive bytecode instructions which would be executed, but the Python compiler has to translate a source code with an unknown data type to some higher-level instructions which would further be dynamically processed before it gets executed by the Python Virtual Machine. So Java Compiler is more like a true compiler whereas Python is more towards an Interpreter.

In case you are curious about Python Interpretation, you can check out this tutorial

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Program Writing Style

Java uses the classic curly brace style for separating different code blocks, whereas Python uses an indentation-based style to separate different code blocks.

Now, this is surely a plus for a beginner who has just started coding in Python, because, as in the case of Java, indentation is not mandatory but a desirable issue. Hence a Java developer might not follow indentation rules and for this, his/her code might break; but in Python, this is mandatory, so a novice coder just has to follow indentation rules with no exceptions.

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Data Typing

Python uses dynamic data types whereas Java uses static data types. It essentially means that all the data types in Python have no explicit differences upfront before the code is being executed whereas Java has different primitive types for different data at the time of compilation before the code runs.

At the time of running, Python virtual machine has no idea about the data types, it has to fix this issue based on the current context, so Python programs run slower than the Java programs.

But at the same time, dynamic typing of data makes Python an easy language to use, and to just a beginner, it seems like a boon.

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Learning Curve

As per the developers worldwide, Python is easier to learn and its learning curve is flatter than the learning curve of Java. To implement the same business logic, it has been seen that Python requires fewer lines of code than Java as there are plenty of support modules for Python.

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Application Areas

Well, probably, this is the best part of the current comparison tutorial.

Due to its huge support for enterprise-level web application frameworks and a rich legacy, Java is mostly used as a default choice for Enterprise level B2B or B2C applications.

On the other hand, as Python is very easy to learn and as the Python requires lesser development time, it is mostly used in relatively newer complex and targeted applications related to AI, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, etc. 

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For more Python and Data Science related tutorials, click here

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Happy Exploring!