1) What is NodeJS and What is Python?
Before we start discussing the basics of these technologies and platforms, we need to clarify what exactly these are that we are comparing. In our quest to find out lets compare NodeJS vs Python
Python is a computer programming language. Node JS is not. The language used for NodeJS is JavaScript. Node Js is a runtime environment for JavaScript.
The main key difference between Python and NodeJS means that when you do coding inside of NodeJS you are using the same basic language (JavaScript) for both the frontend and the backend.
Lets us deep dive into the breakdown of these technologies.
2) The advantages provided by Python to developers is as follows
-
Python is very friendly to junior developers and inexperienced developers:
Python is a very beginner-friendly language. This is why it is much likely to be the most popular introductory language in US universities. Major mistakes made by junior developers in some frameworks are easily forgivable, and they are less of a hindrance moving forward in development.
On the other hand, inexperienced developers tend to get slowed down by making mistakes in development. These mistakes are common to people who do not fully understand some of the more advanced concepts and the inner workings of JavaScript.
This phenomenon can be easily attributed to the way JavaScript has advanced over the years. Concepts such as object-oriented programming have been receiving meaningful traction only after plenty of much less elegant code snippets and tutorials have been spread online.
Most of the Python frameworks do not require a very high skill level from the developer’s point of view.
A very good example of this is the Django framework, that has a mature ecosystem and allows you to write quality code swiftly.
-
Python is more versatile as well as universal:
Python can be used for desktop app development, and all the credit goes to electronJS, the main use case that is favorable to node js is the web. The applications of Python have known to go far beyond the web.
Python is the main candidate to become the next level programming language for data science. This is a great asset to system administrators because it allows them to write small one-off scripts and on top of that it provides large system admin tools such as Ansible
A good example that has used Python is Dropbox, one of the most common desktop apps written in Python.
-
Python is simpler as well as easy to use, better documented and better covered:
This is proven to give Python an edge over NodeJS, even after both technologies are admittedly fast to write in.
NodeJS is a JavaScript implementation, this is a language with a long history and a predominantly a front end tool. Therefore solutions that involve, NodeJS can be easily found online. But these may be inadequate for backend use and they rely on inaccessible interfaces
This use-case cannot be overstated, because each JavaScript framework or runtime environment tends to have a slight deviation on how it was implemented using JavaScript.
This situation has been improved over the years. But it is still a long way off from Python where CPython being a single implementation that is used in a vast majority of Python projects.
3) The advantages of Node JS are as follows
Node JS developers are more flexible
Since we have the same language that is used for both the front end as well as the back end, you need to be a JavaScript developer to use NodeJS. This functionality can come handy when you most needed it. The fact remains that when you have a solid understanding of the project and have the right people to build it, you cannot go wrong with JavaScript and NodeJS.
-
The development environment of NodeJS is less opinionated:
Numerous NodeJS packages are simple, single-purpose libraries and micro frameworks that force the developers to make conscious decisions on what to use them for and when.
This makes NodeJS much more demanding. It requires a high level of advancement on the developer’s front than what it takes to generate code in Python on top of Django using built-in solutions for ORM, cache abstraction, and so on.
-
With NodeJS you can use JavaScript for coding any functionality:
NodeJS allows you to code both the backend as well as frontend using JavaScript. This implies that you do not need to know different technologies and that shows that your developers do not need to learn a different implementation of the same programming paradigms.
-
Benefits of NodeJS
At the stage of assembling your development team, you do not know how many, Python or JavaScript developers you will be required, your needs will also differ in sprints, depending on your goals.
Using the same language for the entire project removes the risks from the equation. You can also share a part of the code with the front and the back ends. This is a huge benefit to not having to do the same thing twice.
The NodeJS community is very large and JavaScript is one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing programming languages out there
JavaScript has been growing at an exponential rate. There are more than 500 packages for JavaScript being introduced every day. Python has no longer the advantage of numerous libraries that it once in time used to have. JavaScript has caught up with NodeJS in this aspect.
Read More: PHP vs Python
4) The problem with NodeJS and JavaScript– NodeJS vs Python
JavaScript has been developing super fast now. But this was not the case earlier.
In the beginning, the language was constructed haphazardly, and it has been struggling with issues caused with its older versions as well as the compatibility issues that bring with it.
JavaScripts recent rise in popularity has also brought another major downside to it.
So many developers have turned to the language in such a short period of time that it has been pretty difficult to keep up with the latest updates in the languages
The swift and rapidly grown happening to the language also brings another problem with it. This problem is that there is no proper and detailed documentation for these libraries that have been coming up for Node JS. This results in the poor quality of programs for Node JS programs.
Sadly this is nothing new for JavaScript as it has been very typical. If history has taught us anything it is that Python is much more reliable.
5) Main aspects to consider
Here are 3 main aspects that shed light on the different aspect of the story, this will help you to make an important decision:
-
Trending Technologies:
Python has been a major player in Machine Learning applications in the field of data science and it provides tested libraries for ML
It is far easier to find ML experts who are well versed in Python than JavaScript
MicroPython-a lighter and smaller version of Python can be run with much less resources and less power thus making it a perfect fit for IoT devices.
On the other hand, NodeJS is much more comfortable to be used in the Internet of Things (IoT)
When you compare the most popular libraries for Python and JavaScript
-
Speed and Performance:
One major drawback of Node JS is its inability to multitask., It cannot do many things at the same time unless you write very well code for it. Both Python and NodeJS pretend to do a lot of stuff at once, but Python applications tend to use a much simpler and traditional multiprocessing model approach instead of a more advanced asynchronous paradigm.
When written correctly, your software will send information to the Operating system that it needs to perform a certain task and move on, while the system works on that. But if you did not code the application efficiently, the app will wait for the system to complete the task and does not do anything in the meantime.
-
Team Composition:
Python well suited for some projects and JavaScript for others. Lets not that building software is a fluid process. The most important thing is team composition. If you have good python developers, then use python. Or if you have good JavaScript developers then use JavaScript.
NodeJS vs Python- Direct Comparison
| Python | NodeJS |
| Python is open source langauge | Node JS is open source platform |
| Python supports ML and AI | Node JS does not support ML and AI |
| Python uses as a general purpose programming plarform | The Node JS platform is used for designing scalable applications |
| The python language is comparatively slow to execute | NodeJS execution is faster than python |
| Python cannot be used for mobile application designing | Node JS can support mobile application designing |
| Python has multiple uses | The NodeJS platform is used for web development and server designing only |
| The python language is used for data science applicatoins | The NodeJS platform cannot be used for data science applications. |
Conclusion
At the end of the day, it depends on what features do you want to implement in your project. And how you want your overall application to behave. You can and you should choose the technology which best fits your requirements. It fulfills all your objects, it does not matter whether the objective gets achieved using Python or NodeJS JavaScript. We hope you found our blog NodeJS vs Python informative.
If you’re looking to Hire Nodejs Developers or looking to Hire Python Developers then drop us an email with your requirements. We have experienced developers who have profound knowledge of implementing web systems using node JS or python. You can share your requirements with us at enquiry@nimapinfotech.com.
