
Ask HN: What are the motivators for back-end Python, compared to Node? - _bxg1
I&#x27;ve done a good amount of JS and only a smattering of Python. The two languages obviously have a lot in common:<p>- Fully dynamic<p>- Convenient dict&#x2F;array primitives and list comprehension features<p>- Optional static type systems<p>- Vibrant library ecosystems<p>But for web servers, JS has a leg up: native understanding of the web&#x27;s primary data transfer protocol, and even the potential for code-sharing with the front end.<p>Which makes me wonder: what is it about Python that inspires many to use it instead, when it comes to web servers? Is Django just that amazing? Is Python meaningfully more performant? Just personal preference?
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cyberpanther
For me it's Django. It's a mature framework but also gives you plenty of ways
to customize and configure for your usecase.

However, another might be the libraries. If you have to implement machine
learning or data analysis on your backend, you would probably be better suited
with Python. There are also probably other of examples of this too. Python is
a more mature language on the backend so I would guess it has a bigger
ecosystem there.

I think out of the box JS is more performant. However, you can make Python
good enough.

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uberman
I personally detest any language where whitespace is significant, but if you
are not fluent in js async/await then python does offer a more traditional
paradigm.

Not knowing a thing about python, I was able to get a non-trivial Flask app
running in a day. I'm not sure that not knowing anything about node/js the
same could be said for Express.

Your mileage may vary.

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_bxg1
I would say the bar for Express is much lower than that, but on the other hand
JS doesn't yet have a great equivalent to Django/Rails/etc. In Express you're
wiring up routes and middleware and database calls yourself, not declaring a
model and getting things for free; it's lower-level.

