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Ask HN: I've learned JavaScript, should I learn Python?

3 pointsby nathan_tarbertalmost 2 years ago
I'd like some pros and cons of whether it would make sense to up my skills and learn Python. Any feedback would be helpful.

3 comments

cratermoonalmost 2 years ago
Pros: popular and commonly used; good for data science Cons: roughly the same paradigm and Javascript. weak&#x2F;dynamic&#x2F;duck typed, interpreted, garbage-collected.<p>I&#x27;d recommend learning a language that departs from one or more of those. Maybe learn a statically-typed language, or a functional language. If you&#x27;re up for a bit of a challenge, learn Rust. It&#x27;s strongly typed, compiled, and definitely NOT garbage collected. It&#x27;s possible to get a running program very quickly, but the learning curve steepens after that.<p>If you do want to try Rust, here&#x27;s some starting points<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;chrismorgan.info&#x2F;blog&#x2F;rust-fizzbuzz&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;chrismorgan.info&#x2F;blog&#x2F;rust-fizzbuzz&#x2F;</a><p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;stevedonovan.github.io&#x2F;rust-gentle-intro&#x2F;readme.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;stevedonovan.github.io&#x2F;rust-gentle-intro&#x2F;readme.html</a><p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.lurklurk.org&#x2F;effective-rust&#x2F;intro.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.lurklurk.org&#x2F;effective-rust&#x2F;intro.html</a><p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;fasterthanli.me&#x2F;articles&#x2F;a-half-hour-to-learn-rust" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;fasterthanli.me&#x2F;articles&#x2F;a-half-hour-to-learn-rust</a>
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noduermealmost 2 years ago
You said you&#x27;ve &quot;learned&quot; Javascript. Perhaps you&#x27;ve passed a test. I doubt you&#x27;ve really mastered it or understood how it works under the hood. I&#x27;m not saying this to insult you. I only say that because I&#x27;ve been doing it for 20+ years, and all of us, everyone, could probably spend ten more years learning to write even better code.<p>On the other hand, new programming languages increase your understanding of some ways of doing things. You learn other kinds of syntax. You grok more.<p>I guess I&#x27;d ask myself: What&#x27;s the point? What do I want to learn Python <i>to do</i> or <i>to make</i>? Why Python <i>specifically</i>? Why not C++? Why not PHP? Why not just take those Javascript skills and learn to write NodeJS servers, which are a whole different beast from your front-end Javascript, and which can accomplish most of the same things as other back-end languages?<p>I&#x27;m asking because, if you don&#x27;t have a real reason to learn a language, it will just be something you learned that you never use. If you <i>do</i> have a real reason to learn it, you&#x27;ll probably learn it because you need to. If you can&#x27;t learn it by trial and error, without taking another class, then you haven&#x27;t learned enough Javascript yet. All languages lead to each other, and all the information about them is available for free.<p>Think about what you want your career to be. Do you want to be a full-stack developer? Then Python + JS probably isn&#x27;t the best choice at this point. Do you want to tinker with AI models? Learn Python because for now it&#x27;s the go-to language. Do you want work on games? Learn C++ and NodeJS. Do you want a steady job in the retail sector? PHP.<p>If you just want to be a colossal prick you can write everything in Brainfuck.
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claytongulickalmost 2 years ago
Programming languages have characteristics that make them better and worse for various tasks.<p>While it&#x27;s possible to complete almost any task in any language, some languages aren&#x27;t optimized for some workloads.<p>JavaScript shines in IO bound tasks and time to market on the server, and of course is the language of the web.<p>Systems languages shine for high performance and low level OS capabilities.<p>IMHO python shines for quick script writing with blocking IO for doing things like file processing - I use it as a better bash.<p>There&#x27;s a long history of using python for other things like web servers (Django) but I don&#x27;t think it&#x27;s very competitive in that space these days with better options like node, go or even elixir.<p>Very much worth learning different languages to understand the things they are good at and the theories behind their design.<p>From a practical standpoint, employers like seeing a well rounded developer with experience in more than one language.
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