JavaScript VS Python — Which one Should I Choose as a Beginner
If you are a novice to programming, it is normal to hesitate and feel depressed about choosing the right programming language, but hopefully, after reading this article, there will be no need to feel depressed about it anymore, and you will be able to regain your power and start with a perfect programming language.
When someone is new to something and decides to start something new, they will feel anxious and depressed about the future or how they will end up if they follow this path, especially for programmers and developers who are new to the industry and have no idea which language to start with to avoid obstacles in the future. The key to this question is that with developers who are professional in their career and have already gained enough experience throughout their career, they know the right and clear path.
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Firstly, if you have already chosen an area of programming to go with, such as game development, in this case you have to go with other programming languages that we are not disclosing in this article, like C, C++, and C#; or, for instance, if you want to become an iOS developer or build IOS apps, it’s mandatory to learn Swift that will give you the ability to develop IOS apps. If that is you, you can honestly leave this article and do research about your own area of programming that you are most interested in.
So to get the full advantages of the article, you need to answer this question:
Which area of programming are you interested in?
Answering this question can be the biggest determinant of which language to choose and become an expert in.
You may probably ask, Why are you just discovering JavaScript and Python in this article? Well, the simple answer to this question is that these two languages are the most demanding, highly-paid, beginner-friendly, popular, and have the highest number of developers and support out there that can help you with your struggles whenever you get stuck coding in one of these two languages.
Returning to the main topic, Which Programming Language Should I Choose?
1. Python
Python is used for scripting, automation, and backend, or server-side, applications and projects. For instance, it can automate the boring tasks you are dealing with, and it is also used in all the data science, machine learning, and AI applications, so generally, Python deals with large data applications. Python is one of the easiest programming languages amongst all the other programming languages, which makes it popular and powerful. Moreover, there are dozens of incredible libraries, to name some of them: an image editing library, a video editing library, an image analyzer, a PDF converter, and more interesting libraries that are worth exploring once.
2. JavaScript
Generally, JavaScript was built to develop websites and make websites more dynamic and faster than usual. So, whatever is dynamic or functional in any website is developed using JavaScript. For instance, when you press the clap icon in this website, it changes its color and meanwhile the number increases; or imagine the YouTube hamburger icon; once you click on that icon, a new panel slides in and appears in a gentle way with a whole lot of new buttons inside it. All of these incredible animations and functionalities are built with JavaScript.
In the past, websites were static, had no animations or functionalities, and were full of links. When JavaScript was created, all the issues with static websites vanished, and from that time till present, developers are adding more features to JavaScript to make it more easy and usable; it solved numerous problems in the web development industry, specially the frontend side of websites, and with the passage of time, they developed a framework for the backend side of websites called Node.js, which made this particular programming language The Language of the Web and let you build a full-stack web app from scratch using just one language.
Nowadays, web development has a plentiful job market, and as mentioned before, JavaScript is the language of the web, so this can be a strong reason to consider JavaScript. But there are some downsides also with this mysterious language that make it harder to reach as a beginner; for instance, the syntax of JavaScript is somehow confusing and there are weird things that can happen, and many developers agree that Python has a more beginner-friendly syntax compared to JavaScript. Moreover, there are also some frameworks that are added on top of JavaScript that make it broader than any other programming language that has ever existed, like ReactJS, AngularJS, Vue.js, and more relevant to these frameworks… This can’t be a huge problem with JavaScript, but once you get into web development, learning these frameworks is necessary to master in order to build cool websites in less time.
Overall, Which programming language to choose?
I just want to be ultra-honest in this one; in terms of the job market, I am poised to admit that both of these two languages are excellent; the salaries for both of these are amazing; the opportunity is incredible for both of these languages; and overall, both of these two languages are equivalent in terms of demand.
If you are creative and have the skills and abilities to design and create stunning stuff for websites, you just go with JavaScript without any hesitation. But if you have a logical mind and are passionate about solving coding issues or are a huge fan of algorithms and data structure, in this case, Python is a good choice.
Keeping these two reasons in mind, if you are an absolute beginner and don’t know what all of these are about, JUST GO WITH PYTHON and start your programming journey from zero. Don’t worry about taking courses to learn Python; the Python for Everybody course on Coursera will teach you all about Python for 100% FREE.
As mentioned before, the only reason that Python is perfect to start with is that its syntax is beginner-friendly and every topic, like conditions and loops, is easy to grasp using Python. Once you feel confident with Python and are more interested in web development, start learning JavaScript, which will be a lot easier after learning Python. To continue with your web development journey, there is an amazing FREE online platform called The Odin Project, that will guide you to master web development for 100% FREE.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, if you know your interest area in programming and you are an absolute beginner, start your programming journey with Python, which is the doorway to programming, no matter what area of programming you are interested in. If you are an absolute beginner, start with Python. Master the fundamentals, and it will give you a blueprint to all the existing programming languages, so once you learn how to code in Python, coding in any other programming language will be a piece of cake for you to learn and master.
For the same reason that you need a map to find your way, learning Python is a necessary prerequisite for reaching your ideal place.
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