Monday, May 11, 2020

Java vs Python - Which Programming Language Should Programmer Learn First?

Java and Python are two of the most popular and influential programming language of the present time. Beginner programmer often get confused, one of the most frequently asked questions is should I learn Java or Python? Is Python is an excellent programming language to start with? Which programming language would you recommend for beginners to learn first etc.? Since I am a Java developer, my opinion is biased, I will always suggest you start with Java and then learn Python, but if you ask this question to a Python developer, you might get just opposite answer. I have well documented my reasons as to Why Java is the best Programming language and Why a programmer should learn Java. One of the most important reasons you would see in that blog post is an active Java community, which will help you throughout your Java career.

You can ask some beginner stuff starting from how to set PATH and classpath to advanced material about debugging Java program in Eclipse, no matter what kind of question is, there is always someone is Java community, who is ready to answer and help you.

This is one of the reasons that StackOverflow is full of Java questions. By the way, Python is not a spring chicken anymore, it has fully grown and given stiff competition to mainstream languages like Java and C++.

When I first come across Python, I thought it's a scripting language, but that is an understatement. You can do object-oriented programming in Python as well. It's also used heavily in web development sites like Reddit are build using Python and machine learning, and data science makes Python even more useful.

On beginners point of view, I always suggest pick a language which is easier to learn, powerful to attract you and have strong community support, now both Java and Python fits this bill, and until you do some excellent comparative analysis, you can not decide which language to learn from Java vs. Python.

Thankfully, we have an infographic, which highlights some vital difference between Python and Java, I am sure after taking a look on this Infographic, you will be able to decide which is the right programming language to start with.

If you already made up your mind to go with Java, then The Complete Java Masterclass course by Tim Buchalaka on Udemy is an excellent course to start with. It's not only the most up-to-date course and covers the latest Java features from recent releases but also the most comprehensive and well-structured course which makes learning way easy.

Python vs. Java - Infographic


Before learning any programming language, it is a must to know the difference between them.

It could be wrong to declare that Java can be less productive compared to Python due to numerous elements.

Let’s go through this infographics to learn some differences:

Infographic Via Perception System

From this Infographic, you can easily see that  Java is very verbose than Python. It takes 10 lines of code to read from a file in Java, while it only takes 2 lines of code in Python. This point goes towards Python because beginner programmer definitely likes to write less code.

The second point is about the static and dynamic type of variable, In my opinion, you need a strict programming language and compiler to detect silly mistakes made by beginners, In Java, you can not store an integer value in a String variable.

So on this point, my vote goes to Java. Speed, which is a crucial thing on enterprise-level application development, you can see that Java is faster than Python, but do remember that you need to compile and run Java program, while Python doesn't need to be compiled.


This is an important reason to learn Python for beginners because it just makes it easy to try and learn, and if you choose to learn Python, then The Complete Python Bootcamp by Jose Portilla on Udemy is an excellent place to start with. It covers Python 3 from scratch.

Python vs Java - which is better to start learning Programming

Things have improved with the introduction of JShell in Java 9, but I still rank Python better in terms of quickly whipping up a script and running.

You can also see that hello world in Java takes more lines than hello world in python. The rest of the examples you can analyze by yourself, but all it comes that both Java and Python are equally capable, no one is lesser than others.

As a Java developer, I can say from my personal experience that you will not regret learning Java and choose it as a career; of course, you can learn Python anytime, and it's suitable for writing small utilities, but Java is Java.

Resources to learn Java and Python

Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like this article, then please share it with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback, then please drop a note.

P. S. - If you already know Java Programming then you can also learn Python as your second programming language to expand your skill. The same goes for Python developer, as learning Java can make you a better programmer and teach you how to work in  a complex project.


Unknown said...

What about concvurrency in Python?

I can't understand why
public static void main(String[] args)
iż always set as prime example for code length in Java?



Anonymous said...


Eswar Vandanapu said...




Unknown said...


Ankit Jain said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
iskorn said...


Unknown said...

Nice Difference for python and Java
U will Provide a such a good thinks for us..
its Great stuff....!!!!

Indian Minerva said...



Anonymous said...


Anonymous said...


Anonymous said...

java is java. lol

Anonymous said...


Anonymous said...



Anonymous said...


Anonymous said...


rajesh kumar said...

great difference between java and python

Anonymous said...








- very easy to write modules
- some functionnal programing features, mainly closures

Somes reasons I think Python is not perfect either :
- syntax for classes is awkward


Anonymous said...


Anonymous said...


Anonymous said...

It has arithmetic operators like ++ :

Anonymous said...

Python is slower than java??

Anonymous said...

Python is far from perfect...

>>> tup = ('tup')
>>> type(tup)

>>> tup = ('tup',)
>>> type(tup)

Anonymous said...

and then

Anonymous said...

Whenever I see lines such as:
public static int foo() {
I cringe.

Anonymous said...

python is easy to learn and its fun too...

Zashel said...

Python is slower than JAVA while you don't compile it.

Anonymous said...


Anonymous said...

hello world

Anonymous said...

python is python, lol

Anonymous said...

java is love

Robert MacHale said...


juzraai said...

You can do file reading in one line also in Java.

Anonymous said...

Java is Java - true
Python is Python - true
My vote for Java

Anonymous said...


Anonymous said...


Unknown said...


Unknown said...

This article is old. JavaScript is number 1 in popularity now (see Stack Overflow and Github). Rightfully so, since it is much faster and more expressive than Python.

Geo Sustainability said...

Yes, Python is a horrible language to learn first. You may able to do a lot in Python with very little in time investment, but the bad habits you will learn by figuring out how to code in a dynamic language will ultimately lead you into a just so-so programmer. You are better off learning how to program in Java or C#, and then move to languages like Python, Ruby, and then on to C when you need speed.

Trust me, bad habits are hard to break and you are better off learning a strict language before you dive into the Wild West.

Unknown said...

Python is better for system administration tasks, primarily as the bash scripting substitute. It has much more clear syntax and does not require expensive JVM startup.

javin paul said...

@Unknown, indeed, many organization uses Python for automating stuff instead of writing bash scripts.

Anonymous said...

I think you should inform the stupid people in Google, the are using the inferior Python.

Anonymous said...

also if you have some resource hungry part of your program, you can write a modul in c for it.

Anonymous said...

imo writting large nested blocks of code is a not a good practice in any language.
also, i am not sure if you took your time to really learn python, it has very different philosophy in many areas. for example using equivalent of ++ (+= 1) is very rearly needed in python compared to c or java. it is flexible so it will allow you to write program like it was java, but it is not good.

Sharon said...

I would like to add that Python is apt to create a sophisticated system that could be integrated with the production.

am said...

I believe programmers can be more productive with python.Besides,productivity is not a measure for programming skills.Its all about our interest and knowledge.The only aim we should focus should be to encourage more skilled young programmers to lead the future.

For more info.:

Unknown said...

I am learning programming these days as a newbie. My only previous working knowledge and experience is in PHP (web development).

As a newbie, Python feels like learning English language. Java makes me feel like I am learning a programming language.

Did a little research and realised that almost all important softwares (that matters) are in Java while almost all python based stuffs are childish (that doesn't matter).

Akash said...

As an experienced java programmer, If I get opportunity to work in python should i grab it or not ??

Noceur said...

Funny how all the Python bashing have aged pretty fucking bad, especially calling the projects made with Python childish is something only a freshman would do.

Neither is a bad choice but for learning coding definitely start with Python. Furthermore Python have overtaken Java as the top language used within faang.

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