Python vs Java: Which Programming Language is Good for Kids?

We will focus on the difference between two of the most popular programming languages, Python and Java

In the world of computer science, there are many programming languages, and no single language is superior to another. Programming languages for kids tend to share certain characteristics in how they function, for example in the way they deal with memory usage or how heavily they use objects. Students will start seeing these patterns as they are exposed to more languages. This article will focus primarily on Python vs Java, a discussion based on the two of the most widely used programming languages in the world. While it is hard to measure exactly the rate at which each programming language is growing, these are two of the most popular programming languages for kids. One major difference between Python and Java is that Python is dynamically typed, while Java is statically typed. Loosely, this means that Java is much more strict about how variables are defined and used in code.

Python

Python is a high-level and one of the top programming languages in recent times for efficient coding. It is also known for its object-oriented and structured programming that is fully supported on any server to create web applications. Developers can build robust applications with the help of Python due to its English-like syntax. This feature helps them to read and understand the code easily, without much trouble. There are many employees who do not have a technical background and are just beginners but have to learn Python for professional careers— Python is very easy to pick up and learn in a short span of time. There is a need for fewer lines of code to perform than C++ or Java.

Python is popular in the community owing to its productive nature because it helps developers to focus more on solving complex real-life problems and less on the syntax of the coding language.  It directly executes the code line by line and detects potential errors before the final execution. The interpreted language automatically assigns certain types of real-time data during the execution. The most important characteristic of Python is that it is free to use and anyone can download the source code, modify, and distribute their own version of Python without having any prior training. There is also a vast array of machine learning libraries for Python where developers can find multiple functions for different tasks without depending on any external library.  

Java

Java is also a high-level, multi-platform, network-centric, and object-oriented programming language to have a few implementation dependencies from developers. It is used for internet-based applications as a simple and efficient coding language. Java is also an extremely portable and interpreted language like Python. The same applications will run identically on different hardware and operating systems without any hindrance. The source code is first compiled into a binary byte-code that runs on Java virtual machine. Java is known as a dynamic programming language that is also easy to learn for beginners and can be written, compiled, debugged, and learned faster. Developers can create modular programs and reusable code.

Python vs Java

• Python is known for its potential in experimentation, whereas Java is popular for production code
• In the case of code, Python has fewer lines of code while Java has longer lines for code
• Python consists of fewer number of frameworks, whereas Java shows a large number of frameworks for developers
• For beginners, the syntax of Python is easy to remember without any potential error owing to its similarities with human language while the syntax of Java is very complicated to understand and holds a chance of committing errors in lines
• Python is known as the only interpreted coding language, whereas Java is a combination of a compiled and interpreted coding language
• Python uses indentation to distinguish code into different blocks while Java uses second brackets to mention the beginning and end of each function and class
• Python provides more string related functions to the developers than Java
• Python is more preferred for scientific and numeric calculations, machine learning, AI, Data Science, and many more but Java is used for desktop GUI apps, especially web application services