Advantages and Disadvantages of Python

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Published on August 4th, 2022

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The Python programming language is a universal, high-level interpreted language that primarily offers code readability. It is mainly used by professional programmers and developers across various disciplines, including web development and machine learning. Python has pros and cons like all other programming languages ??you’ve undoubtedly heard, read about, or used for various reasons.

Suppose you plan to learn a particular programming language for any purpose. In that case, you need to know the various features, pros and cons, uses and applications, and other language factors.

As mentioned earlier, the Python programming language has various advantages and disadvantages. However, in the case of Python, its advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, you will learn it eventually. Most organizations use Python because it supports several programming paradigms.

Table of Contents

Advantages of Python

In this Python advantages and disadvantages blog, we will first learn about some of the advantages of the Python programming language.

1. Straightforward to learn and easy to use

The Python programming language has a syntax identical to the English language, making it easy and straightforward for anyone to read and understand its codes. You will acquire this language without any significant problems and learn it quickly.

This is one of the causes why Python is better than other programming languages ??like C, C++, or Java. Additionally, Python requires fewer lines of code to perform the same operations and tasks in different programming languages ??with larger blocks of code.

2. Improves productivity

One more benefit of Python is that it is a highly productive language, and its simplicity makes it easy for Python programmers to focus on solving problems.

3. Interpreted language

Python, an interpreted language, can execute code directly, one line at a time. Additionally, if any error occurs, it will report it instead of continuing with the subsequent execution.

4. Open-source

Python has an open-source approval and is freely available to users, letting you distribute it effectively. With the help of Python, one can download any source code and also change and distribute your Python version of the code. This feature can be convenient, especially when you want to reuse code and save time when creating innovative applications. In addition, you can change its behavior and use an older version of the code for development.

5. Easily portable

In most languages, including the ones you’ve learned to read, write, and use like C, C++, etc., you have to change the code to run the program on different platforms. However, this is not the case with Python programming. In Python, you only need to write code once, and you can run it on any platform, customizing the “write once, run anywhere” functionality. However, you need to ensure that you don’t include system-dependent features.

6. Massive libraries

Python’s standard library is vast; here, you will find all the necessary functions needed for the task at hand. This makes Python independent of external libraries. Although, if you want to use some external libraries, then using Python package controls (pip), you can smoothly import various packages from the massive Python Package Index (PyPi), which contains more than 200,000 packages.

7. Easy integration with other programming languages

Another special feature of python that lets it integrate with libraries like Jython and Cython and other programming languages, including Java, C, and C++, for cross-platform development. Therefore, Python is comparatively more powerful. No programming language is perfect, and using one language for all applications and development is generally not recommended. Moreover, like any other language, Python’s strength is to provide you with a vast library to enjoy other languages’ intensive and powerful features.

Disadvantages of Python

Now that we have seen the benefits of Python. There are a few disadvantages of python that you should know. It’s time to learn about them.

1. Low speed

Unfortunately, strengths can sometimes lead to some weaknesses. Here is such a case. Yes, Python is a dynamically typed and interpreted language, but the code is executed line by line, resulting in slow execution. The dynamic nature of Python is primarily the reason for its slow speed, as there is a necessity for some extra labor during the execution process. This is one of the causes why Python is not used when speed is an essential aspect of a given program.

2. Inefficient memory consumption

Python needs to make some compromises to offer simplicity to programmers and developers. This language uses a vast amount of memory, which is a disadvantage, especially if you are developing an application with a preference for memory optimization.

3. Weak in mobile programming

Developers typically use Python for server-side programming rather than mobile apps or client-side programming. This is because Python has slow computing power and is hardly memory efficient compared to other programming languages.

4. Difficult to control database layer

It is remarkably stress-free and easy to code a program using Python, but when interacting with a database, Python drags behind. It has an underdeveloped and elementary database layer compared to other more popular technologies such as ODBC and JDBC. Above all, companies strive for seamless interaction with complex data, which makes it difficult for them to use Python.

5. Prone to causing errors at runtime

Python’s dynamic feature allows you to change the data type of a variable at any time. A Python variable that once had an integer value may have a string value in the future. This can lead to runtime errors. Therefore, developers must perform several rounds of testing for each application developed.

6. Design limitations

One of the significant problems with Python is its design limitations. The reason for this drawback is that Python is dynamically typed.

7. Difficult to test

Since it is an interpreter-based language, running tests on code written in Python is difficult. All bugs and errors appear only during runtime, which makes it very difficult to test code snippets written in Python.

Python application

Before we get to the heart of this article, let’s take a quick look at some Python applications.

As a developed programming language, Python is used to design high-level applications such as:

Web server programming: Developers can do server-side programming through Python libraries such as Django and Flask.

Prototyping: Through Python, developers can create rapid prototypes to present to the client.

Through libraries, game development is widely used in developing games, including GUIs.

Data Science and Machine Learning: Python is the most suitable and most used language for machine learning and data science. Because Python has a great community and a wide range of libraries, it helps develop data science applications. It has libraries for data manipulation, visualization, cleaning, and other related functions.

Winding up!

Python is a widely used programming language. Despite all the advantages and disadvantages of Python, it is yet one of the best and most trusted languages ??for desktop and web server-side application development. It is nicely suited for machine learning and artificial intelligence and is unsuitable for mobile development and GUI. While reviewing its performance, we can conclude that Python’s advantages may outweigh its disadvantages. Python is the most helpful choice for coding if appropriately used by an experienced developer.