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Thanks for this provocative comment -- if you don't mind me asking, what do you think the tradeoffs are between using Julia and Python for ML in production? I g

Thanks for this provocative comment -- if you don't mind me asking, what do you think the tradeoffs are between using Julia and Python for ML in production? I get the idea of right tool for the right job and all, and I know that Python has a fantastic ecosystem. But, how close is Julia? How developed is the ecosystem right now, and how fast is it developing?

eigenspace 7y ago
Julia has a smaller ecosystem than Python for sure, however julia has a couple of key ecosystem advantages that make it punch well above its weight class. It really just boils down to the fact that julia's core value proposition is primarily enticing to domain experts trying to implement new algorithms without wanting to worry about switching languages for performance hotspots or having to reimplement existing functionality from other packages. Julia packages tend to be small, focused and astonishingly composable. Hence, the proportion of the community that are actively developing and maintaining state of the art pacakges in julia is way higher than that in other languages like Python. Furthermore, even if you're not some super researcher developer, Julia substantially lowers the bar for mere mortals such as myself to do package development. The composability I mentioned above means that I can stand on the shoulders of giants as I implement my own stuff, plus the fact that the majority of libraries are written in pure julia means that I can easily "peek under the hood" to figure out how they work and learn from them. It's hard to make broad statements about how much ecosystem support one can expect from julia without first specifying the field. Some fields have fantastic julia support and others haven't received enough attention. It really just depends on if someone from your field has started making good packages yet.

eigenspace 7y ago

Julia has a smaller ecosystem than Python for sure, however julia has a couple of key ecosystem advantages that make it punch well above its weight class. It really just boils down to the fact that julia's core value proposition is primarily enticing to domain experts trying to implement new algorithms without wanting to worry about switching languages for performance hotspots or having to reimplement existing functionality from other packages. Julia packages tend to be small, focused and astonishingly composable. Hence, the proportion of the community that are actively developing and maintaining state of the art pacakges in julia is way higher than that in other languages like Python. Furthermore, even if you're not some super researcher developer, Julia substantially lowers the bar for mere mortals such as myself to do package development. The composability I mentioned above means that I can stand on the shoulders of giants as I implement my own stuff, plus the fact that the majority of libraries are written in pure julia means that I can easily "peek under the hood" to figure out how they work and learn from them. It's hard to make broad statements about how much ecosystem support one can expect from julia without first specifying the field. Some fields have fantastic julia support and others haven't received enough attention. It really just depends on if someone from your field has started making good packages yet.