Python is the most popular programming language and beloved by many. However I can’t understand why (this is still the case in 2024).
Here are my main gripes with it:
- It is slow, performance intensive tasks have to be offloaded to other languages, which makes it complicated to analyse. Moreover I wonder how many kwH could have been saved if programms were written in more performant languages. (and there are better alternatives out there)
- The missing type system makes it easy to make errors, and the missing compiler makes it hard to catch them
- It has no linear algebra built in, so you always have to convert things to numpy arrays, which is quite annoying
- Managing virtual environments and pip packages feels overly complicated
I guess much comes down to personal, but I just can’t understand the love for python.
I’m not a huge python fan but I’m pretty confused about point 3. What alternative languages have decent linear algebra support built in?
Sounds like you’re just using the wrong tool for the job, then.
It’s like you’re trying to drive a screw in with a hammer.
No I mean, Python is definitely the most used language in scientific computing, but yeah, I would use something else if I could.