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People are learning Python because they want to do ML or scientific computing - not the other way around. Python has its current popularity because of NumPy and
by goto11 5y ago
People are learning Python because they want to do ML or scientific computing - not the other way around. Python has its current popularity because of NumPy and the whole numeric and ML ecosystem.
I love Python as a language, but realistically it could just as well have been Ruby or some other language.
- arc-in-space 5y agoPython was already quite popular by the time 3.0 came out in 2008, well before the AI summer was in full swing, which is a large part of what drove the popularity of NumPy et al. You're not wrong now, but that's just the chicken, the egg included web applications and its use as a scripting language.
- pjmlp 5y agoPython was already the scripting language of choice at CERN when I was there about 20 years ago. Summer School computing classes even used to teach unit testing in Python. And the Atlas HLT/DAQ build scripts were based on Python.
- beowulfey 5y agoThe counter example you’d probably want to use is Julia — it was written with scientific computing in mind, but is nowhere near as popular.
- twistedpair 5y agoSeems that NumPy was written in Python b/c the ML community was using Python, not the other way around.