Discover Advantages and Disadvantages of Python in 2024

Python has become one of the most popular and popular programming languages ​​worldwide, thanks to its simple syntax, flexibility, and variety of applications. However, like any other technology, Python is not perfect and has weaknesses that need to be considered. Before we further explore the advantages and disadvantages of Python in 2024, let’s take a look at an overview of the language.

What is Python?

Guido van Rossum officially launched Python on February 20, 1991. Its name pays homage to the renowned comedy TV show “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” on BBC, rather than the hard serpents that destroy their prey.

In contrast to many other programming languages primarily shaped by large corporate teams, Python stands out as the brainchild of a single individual. However, over the years, Python has evolved through the collective efforts of numerous users, programmers, and testers worldwide. Their contributions have propelled Python’s widespread dissemination and global acceptance.

Python is a free, open-source, object-oriented programming language famous for its high capabilities. It comes equipped with built-in data structures and dynamic semantics.

With its dynamic typing and binding features, Python is suitable for scripting, rapid application development, and integrating existing components seamlessly.

Notably, Python boasts simplicity and a shallow learning curve, making it accessible to beginners. Its readability ensures that programs are easy to maintain. Additionally, Python promotes code reusability and program modularity through its support for packages and modules.

Overall, Python enhances programmer productivity and simplifies the debugging process. As a free language, both the Python library and interpreter are freely available, contributing to its widespread adoption and popularity.

Read more: How Much Does Python Cost? A Guide That You Must Read!

What are the Advantages of Python?

Advantages #1 – It’s Easy to Read and Learn

Python puffs a syntax designed for clarity and comprehensibility, which proves advantageous for newcomers venturing into programming. Unlike some other languages with convoluted syntax, Python stands out for its simplicity and readability, easing the learning curve for beginners.

In Python, developers can achieve desired outcomes with fewer lines of code compared to many counterparts. This efficiency not only streamlines the coding process but also minimizes the likelihood of errors. Thanks to its emphasis on simplicity and readability, Python often requires less code to complete tasks, yet enhancing productivity and reducing the risk of bugs.

In essence, Python simplifies the programming experience, offering a smoother learning curve and a more efficient coding process. Its readability and efficiency particularly benefit beginners embarking on their programming journey, providing them with a solid foundation in software development.

Advantages #2 – Designed for Developer Productivity

Python is intricately designed to enhance the productivity of web developers, offering a structured environment that enables more efficient and effective code writing. This emphasis on productivity translates into time and effort savings for developers.

Python is renowned for its comprehensive support across diverse areas of web development, spanning compilation and scripting tasks to multitasking capabilities. This versatility empowers developers to address a broad spectrum of challenges within a unified language framework, eliminating the need to switch between different tools or languages for varied tasks.

Python’s efficient multitasking capabilities stand out as a pivotal feature contributing to its reliability. Multitasking entails executing multiple tasks concurrently, and Python excels in handling complex issues like data security while simultaneously managing other operations. This proficiency is indispensable for modern web applications that demand seamless multitasking without compromising performance or security.

In summary, Python’s focus on developer productivity, coupled with its readability and robust support for various tasks and multitasking abilities, positions it as a preferred choice for web developers seeking efficient and dependable programming solutions.

Advantages #3 – Diversity in Libraries and Frameworks

Python is exceptionally versatile and user-friendly, largely because it comes with an extensive standard library. This means that most professional web developers can find all the functions they need for a client’s project within Python’s comprehensive libraries.

Beyond web and mobile software development, Python’s modules and data types support machine learning, AI modeling, video game development, and much more.

Regarding web development, Python offers a wide range of frameworks that cater to various needs. These frameworks are highly versatile, providing many options for expert web app developers and designers.

Leading Python frameworks such as Django, Flask, Web2py, and CubicWeb offer unique advantages, enabling developers to choose one or multiple frameworks for specific web development projects.

Additionally, frameworks like Aiohttp, Pyramid, Turbogears, Sanic, Tornado, and Pylons contribute to the extensive array of options available, enhancing Python’s diversity and flexibility.

Advantages #4 – Open-Source with Exceptional Community Support

Python operates under an OSI-approved free license, meaning its source code is freely accessible, editable, and distributable by anyone. This openness empowers developers to tailor Python to their specific needs by modifying its source code, fostering innovation, and promoting collaboration within the developer community.

Given its open-source nature, Python offers developers the flexibility to adjust the language to their unique requirements. They can pinch the source code to introduce new functionalities, enhance performance, or rectify setbacks. This adaptability enables developers to customize Python to suit their project demands and elevate its capabilities as necessary.

Python boasts one of the largest and most passionate communities among programming languages. This vibrant community actively contributes to documentation, forums, tutorials, and conferences. Whether you’re seeking information on the language itself or need community support for a specific issue, you can easily find valuable resources and assistance, which is invaluable for developers of all skill levels.

In essence, Python’s open-source framework and strong community support contribute significantly to its widespread adoption and attractiveness among developers. The ability to customize the language and tap into a wealth of communal knowledge and assistance enriches the development journey and enhances the success potential of Python projects.

Advantages #5 – A Portable Programming Language

Portability is meaningful for developers because it enables them to write software that works on numerous platforms without altering the code. Python excels in this regard, permitting developers to run the same code on multiple platforms. This advantage is particularly notable compared to many other complex programming languages, which often require substantial adaptations to operate correctly across different systems.

Python’s portability is embedded in its design principles, which prioritize clarity, readability, and a robust standard library. It’s naturally multiplatform, meaning Python programs can run on operating systems like Windows, macOS, and Linux with the tiniest or no changes. This is particularly valuable today when software needs to be adaptable and compatible with multiple platforms.

For developers, being able to write code once and run it anywhere saves a lot of time. It releases the need for repetitious coding efforts and reduces the sophistication of maintaining multiple versions of the same application for different platforms. Whether developing a desktop application, a web service, or a mobile app, Python’s portability ensures the same codebase can be used across all these platforms.

Imagine a development team developing an application that must work on both Windows and Linux. Many programming languages would require writing platform code, extensive testing on each system, and dealing with platform bugs and performance issues. With Python, the team can write the application once and be confident that it will work smoothly on both platforms. This not only saves time but also reduces the stress and frustration of debugging and maintaining separate codebases.

Another essential segment of Python’s portability is its capacity to integrate with other languages and technologies. Python can easily interface with code written in C, C++, Java, and many other languages, making it a perfect choice for projects requiring compatibility. This versatility further improves Python’s utility in diverse development environments and promotes more efficient workflows.

Advantages #6 – Ease of Building Prototypes

Python is great for prototype development, helping developers quickly turn ideas into test products. One of the main reasons for this favor is Python’s simple and readable syntax, which allows developers to write and understand code faster than in many other programming languages. This helps create early performances of the product quickly, giving customers an early look at the final product.

In today’s competitive market, speed in prototype development offers a significant advantage. Python allows developers to quickly change and improve prototypes based on feedback from customers, shortening the time to adjust and perfect the product. This repetitive process not only speeds up development, but also ensures the final product better meets customer needs and anticipations.

In addition, Python’s rich standard library and diverse ecosystem of extension packages provide many modules and tools available for common tasks such as web development, data research and machine learning. Thanks to these tools, developers can integrate complex features into prototypes without having to build everything from scratch, saving both time and effort.

Cost-effectiveness is also an important benefit of using Python for prototype development. Faster development cycles mean less time spent coding and debugging, thereby reducing development costs. This is very useful for customers because they can see a working version of the product without a large initial acquisition. Furthermore, if changes are needed, they can be made quickly and economically, keeping the project on budget and on schedule.

Python’s clarity also helps maintain customer satisfaction. Even non-technical customers can track project progress thanks to Python’s easy-to-read code. This builds trust between the customer and the development team, as customers can see their requirements being met and provide timely feedback throughout the development process.

Read more: How to Build A Website with Python: An Ultimate Guide

Advantages #7 – One Word: Django

In the field of web development, Django stands out for its efficiency and innovation in the Python ecosystem. Django’s reputation in this field has made it a top choice for developers worldwide and with good reason.

At the heart of Django’s appeal is its exceptional ability to model complex domains and translate them into flexible and elegant code. This is important in the fast world of web applications, where flexibility is crucial for success. Whether it’s creating complex data models or implementing dynamic user interfaces, Django allows developers to implement their ideas with ease.

But Django’s influence is not limited to the technical side. In the field of SEO, Django has emerged as a powerful factor. In today’s digital landscape where online presence can make or break a business, SEO plays a vital role in increasing traffic and engaging users. By leveraging standard technologies like Python, Django bridges user experience and SEO techniques, ensuring that websites not only perform at their best but also rank highly on the results page.

The interrelationship between Django and SEO brings clear benefits to both users and website owners. Users enjoy a smooth browsing experience, marked by fast load times and instinctive navigation. Meanwhile, website owners benefit from increased visibility and higher rankings on search engines, leading to better reach and engagement with their target audience.

What are the Disadvantages of Python?

Disadvantage #1 – Not a Native Framework 

When developers start building mobile apps, they often place a high priority on using high-level programming languages ​​optimized for specific operating systems like iOS or Android. Python, although a powerful and diverse language, is not a basic framework designed for mobile environments. Although it is possible to use Python for mobile application development through frameworks such as Kivy or BeeWare, these options do not always fully meet the specific requirements and needs of each project. 

This is because Python was not specifically designed for mobile environments from the ground up. While languages ​​like Swift for iOS and Java or Kotlin for Android are pre-optimized for mobile app development, Python often has to use plugins and backend modules to meet the requirements of the environment. 

Therefore, although Python can be used for mobile application development, developers often face a number of limitations and difficulties in making their applications work effectively and smoothly on different mobile platforms.

Disadvantage #2 – High Memory Usage 

Although Python is known to be a powerful and flexible language for web development projects, it comes with the drawback of high memory consumption. During execution, Python often needs to use a large amount of memory to maintain variables and data. This can lead to slow performance on the client side as the website consumes more RAM, especially when handling complex and resource-intensive tasks.

This problem is especially acute when building web applications that are complex and resource-intensive, such as e-commerce sites or big data analytics applications. In this case, using Python may cause poor performance and slow response times from the server side, affecting the user experience.

Additionally, another limitation of Python for mobile development is its Global Interpretation Lock (GIL). The GIL is a mechanism in Python that limits the number of times a thread can execute Python code at a given time. This can reduce the performance of mobile applications that require multi-threading, due to the inability to fully utilize system resources. This has been noted by many professional developers and is one of the problems they face when using Python for mobile application development.

Disadvantage #3 – Transition Challenges 

While not a major issue, in practice some developers may find the transition between Python and the more complex Java language difficult to navigate. This is not a matter of Python’s capabilities but of the conversion between the two syntaxes and different implementations.

Some developers may prefer the structure and rigor of languages ​​like Java, where the rules for data types and memory management are more complex. When they switch to Python, they may have difficulty adapting to the language’s simple and flexible syntax. Even so, some developers may feel out of control without the rigidity of memory and data type management as in Java.

However, this formula is not a matter of Python but of individual developer preference and adaptation. Some people may take advantage of Python’s simplicity and readability, while others may feel uncomfortable using this flexibility. This is just an example of the variety in the installer niche and does not reflect the lack of brilliance in Python tooling.

Disadvantage #4 – Database Access

Although Python is an easy-to-understand and flexible language implementation, when it comes to database compatibility work, it sometimes has to deal with a number of methods. In an age where technological traditions like JDBC and ODBC have long existed, Python’s ability to interact with databases and access data is still relatively basic and not fully developed.

This is because Python was not specifically designed to work with databases from the ground up. While technologies such as JDBC and ODBC have been around for a long time and are optimized to work well with popular database management systems such as MySQL, PostgreSQL and Oracle, interoperability with databases Python’s is still simple and has a limited mode.

For businesses with complex database interaction needs, using Python may not be the most attractive option. They often want to use available and more robust technologies than JDBC or ODBC to ensure compatibility and high performance when working with large and complex data. Therefore, Python may not be the top choice for projects that require intensive computation in database interaction work.

Disadvantage #5 – Weak in Mobile Computing

While Python is a dominant server-side programming language that works well on server and desktop platforms, when it comes to mobile app development, it suffers from some significant drawbacks. Python’s economy in memory usage and high processing power requirements for it to be suitable make it unsuitable for many integrated mobile applications.

In mobile environments, the need for optimal memory and performance is critical. Python, with its structure, is often unable to satisfy an efficient outcome of this requirement. Python’s struggles with memory management and data handling can lead to lower performance, take a toll on responsiveness, and even reduce battery life on mobile devices.

Although there are some applications written in Python, such cases are often very strange. For example, Carbonnelle is a pre-installed Python program for use on mobile devices, however, these are usually the exception. A lot of applications require maximum optimization of system performance and resources, which Python cannot provide an efficient result. Therefore, in the field of mobile development, Python is often not considered a preferred choice.

Disadvantage #6 – Runtime Errors

One of the big challenges when using Python is the issue related to runtime errors. Python’s design, which allows data types of any variant to change at any time, has created a number of problems for developers.

Python is a so-called “dynamic” language, which means that the data type of a variable can change after it is displayed. This can cause unexpected errors when the program is running, when a variable is used with an unexpected data type.

This is especially noticeable in large or complex projects, where the work of tracking variables and checking the type of data returned is more important than ever. Unexpected changes in data types can lead to running-time errors that are difficult to identify and difficult to repair.

This also sets a rule in maintaining the code source, as it must be ensured that any changes in the code do not change the data type of the variable in an unexpected way. Although Python offers performance and convenience during installation, the issue of runtime errors remains one of the language’s weaknesses, especially for large and complex projects.

Python Applications

With a comprehensive architecture of Python, including its advantages and disadvantages, we will further explore the practical applications of the language. Python is widely used in many different fields, mainly by developers and software companies for:

1. Application and web framework: Python has many frameworks such as Django, Flask and Pyramid that help build powerful and flexible web applications.
2. Business Applications: Implementing the performance and portability of Python, it is widely used in developing business applications and management systems.
3. Educational Purpose: Python is often used as a first language to introduce the installer to beginners, making the syntax easy to read and understand.
4. Language Development: Many new programming languages ​​are created using Python, but there are also tools like ANTLR and PLY for language-specific development.
5. GUI-based desktop applications: Python has GUI libraries such as Tkinter and PyQt, which allow the development of desktop applications with graphic user interfaces.
6. Custom Software Application Development: Python provides a flexible approach for developing custom software applications and open source projects.
7. Prototyping: Python is quick and easy to create application prototypes, helping developers test new ideas.
8. Graphic design and image processing applications: Python is used in image processing and image processing applications such as Blender and OpenCV.
9. Game Development: Python is used for small and simple game development, as well as game development tools like Pygame.
10. Scientific and computational applications: Python is a popular tool in the scientific and computational community, with libraries such as NumPy, SciPy, and Pandas.

Furthermore, many prominent companies have integrated Python into their operations, using it for applications as diverse as:

1. Yahoo (Map)
2. Google
3. YouTube
4. Microsoft
5. Spotify
6. Mozilla
7. Cisco
8. Drop-down box

Python’s flexibility and productivity have made it one of the most popular and broadly used programming languages ​​in the information technology industry

Why Python Is Preffered Than Other Languages?

We’ve explored the numerous benefits Python brings to developers, which sets it apart from other programming languages like Java or C++, among others. Let’s recap these advantages:

1. Python brags a simple and intuitive syntax, enhancing its readability, learnability, and maintainability, making it easier for developers to comprehend and share code.
2. Being a dynamic scripting language, Python accelerates application development by integrating reusable components, fostering rapid prototyping and iteration.
3. Python code is akin to straightforward text files edited in an IDE or text editor, with instructions interpreted by the Python interpreter. Coupled with robust IDEs and an extensive array of third-party frameworks, libraries, and tools, Python facilitates development, even for large-scale projects.
4. Its versatility enables Python to be employed across diverse projects, offering developers the freedom to select programming paradigms and flexible data types tailored to specific requirements.
5. Python’s cross-platform compatibility renders it highly portable, allowing code to run seamlessly across various operating systems without necessitating modifications, thanks to its interpreter-based execution model.
6. Bolstered by a vibrant and rapidly expanding community of Python enthusiasts, commonly referred to as Pythonists, the language benefits from continuous contributions, including custom software packages shared via online repositories, further enriching its ecosystem.

Read more: Python VS Ruby: Which To Choose To Power Your Business?

FAQs

What is Python not good for?

Despite its widespread use in desktop and web background server development, Python isn’t perfect for mobile app or game development due to its higher memory consumption and slower processing speed compared to other languages.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Python compared to Java?

Comparing Python and Java can be difficult as they serve different purposes and possess unique characteristics. Java excels in handling intricate back end server tasks, although its syntax is complicated. On the other hand, Python offers clean, straightforward code that’s easier to read, write, and modify. Java may be more challenging to master but can deliver superior performance in larger-scale applications compared to Python.

Is Python better than C++?

For beginners in programming, Python is often recommended due to its simplicity and ease of learning. While C++ offers better performance and efficiency in completing tasks, its syntax is more complex and involves more intricate memory management. Python is preferred by many programmers for its user-friendly nature compared to C++.

Is Python losing its popularity?

Despite claims by some developers that Python is becoming obsolete, it remains one of the most widely used programming frameworks for website development. This assertion is merely the opinion of advanced developers accustomed to more complex languages, while Python continues to maintain its prominence in the field.

Key Takeaways

Python continues to be one of the most popular programming languages ​​today, but it is not without some disadvantages. Python’s advantages include easy-to-read and learn syntax, cross-platform integration, and a strong user community. However, Python may not be suitable for mobile app development due to its high memory consumption and difficulty in interacting with databases. This makes choosing to use Python a must for careful consideration based on the specific requirements of the project.