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5 views

python

Uploaded by

Niranjan Thakur
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Java

Python programs are generally expected to run slower than Java programs, but they also
take much less time to develop. Python programs are typically 3-5 times shorter than
equivalent Java programs. This difference can be attributed to Python's built-in high-level
data types and its dynamic typing. For example, a Python programmer wastes no time
declaring the types of arguments or variables, and Python's powerful polymorphic list and
dictionary types, for which rich syntactic support is built straight into the language, find a use
in almost every Python program. Because of the run-time typing, Python's run time must
work harder than Java's. For example, when evaluating the expression a+b, it must first
inspect the objects a and b to find out their type, which is not known at compile time. It then
invokes the appropriate addition operation, which may be an overloaded user-defined
method. Java, on the other hand, can perform an efficient integer or floating point addition,
but requires variable declarations for a and b, and does not allow overloading of the +
operator for instances of user-defined classes.

For these reasons, Python is much better suited as a "glue" language, while Java is better
characterized as a low-level implementation language. In fact, the two together make an
excellent combination. Components can be developed in Java and combined to form
applications in Python; Python can also be used to prototype components until their design
can be "hardened" in a Java implementation. To support this type of development, a Python
implementation written in Java is under development, which allows calling Python code from
Java and vice versa. In this implementation, Python source code is translated to Java
bytecode (with help from a run-time library to support Python's dynamic semantics).

Javascript
Python's "object-based" subset is roughly equivalent to JavaScript. Like JavaScript (and
unlike Java), Python supports a programming style that uses simple functions and variables
without engaging in class definitions. However, for JavaScript, that's all there is. Python, on
the other hand, supports writing much larger programs and better code reuse through a true
object-oriented programming style, where classes and inheritance play an important role.

Perl
Python and Perl come from a similar background (Unix scripting, which both have long
outgrown), and sport many similar features, but have a different philosophy. Perl
emphasizes support for common application-oriented tasks, e.g. by having built-in regular
expressions, file scanning and report generating features. Python emphasizes support for
common programming methodologies such as data structure design and object-oriented
programming, and encourages programmers to write readable (and thus maintainable) code
by providing an elegant but not overly cryptic notation. As a consequence, Python comes
close to Perl but rarely beats it in its original application domain; however Python has an
applicability well beyond Perl's niche.

Tcl
Like Python, Tcl is usable as an application extension language, as well as a stand-alone
programming language. However, Tcl, which traditionally stores all data as strings, is weak
on data structures, and executes typical code much slower than Python. Tcl also lacks
features needed for writing large programs, such as modular namespaces. Thus, while a
"typical" large application using Tcl usually contains Tcl extensions written in C or C++ that
are specific to that application, an equivalent Python application can often be written in
"pure Python". Of course, pure Python development is much quicker than having to write
and debug a C or C++ component. It has been said that Tcl's one redeeming quality is the
Tk toolkit. Python has adopted an interface to Tk as its standard GUI component library.

Tcl 8.0 addresses the speed issuse by providing a bytecode compiler with limited data type
support, and adds namespaces. However, it is still a much more cumbersome programming
language.

Smalltalk
Perhaps the biggest difference between Python and Smalltalk is Python's more
"mainstream" syntax, which gives it a leg up on programmer training. Like Smalltalk, Python
has dynamic typing and binding, and everything in Python is an object. However, Python
distinguishes built-in object types from user-defined classes, and currently doesn't allow
inheritance from built-in types. Smalltalk's standard library of collection data types is more
refined, while Python's library has more facilities for dealing with Internet and WWW
realities such as email, HTML and FTP.

Python has a different philosophy regarding the development environment and distribution
of code. Where Smalltalk traditionally has a monolithic "system image" which comprises
both the environment and the user's program, Python stores both standard modules and
user modules in individual files which can easily be rearranged or distributed outside the
system. One consequence is that there is more than one option for attaching a Graphical
User Interface (GUI) to a Python program, since the GUI is not built into the system.

C++
Almost everything said for Java also applies for C++, just more so: where Python code is
typically 3-5 times shorter than equivalent Java code, it is often 5-10 times shorter than
equivalent C++ code! Anecdotal evidence suggests that one Python programmer can finish
in two months what two C++ programmers can't complete in a year. Python shines as a
glue language, used to combine components written in C++.

Common Lisp and Scheme


These languages are close to Python in their dynamic semantics, but so different in their
approach to syntax that a comparison becomes almost a religious argument: is Lisp's lack
of syntax an advantage or a disadvantage? It should be noted that Python has introspective
capabilities similar to those of Lisp, and Python programs can construct and execute
program fragments on the fly. Usually, real-world properties are decisive: Common Lisp is
big (in every sense), and the Scheme world is fragmented between many incompatible
versions, where Python has a single, free, compact implementation.

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