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These discussions tend to go in circles because there are several incompatible notions of what “scientific computing” is. The first arena that comes to my mind
by leephillips 3y ago
These discussions tend to go in circles because there are several incompatible notions of what “scientific computing” is. The first arena that comes to my mind is very high performance numerical code: simulations of merging galaxies, of the atmosphere, etc. In this arena, there are exactly four languages that have been used at the most demanding level: Fortran, C, C++, and Julia. Python is not on the radar.
- agoose77 3y agoI think this is somewhat restrictive. A significant amount of scientific computing work is done in high-level languages like Python that dispatch to lower-level kernels (like C++, jitted Numba, etc). I wouldn't discount them as "not scientific computing". The jitted kernels really blur the line, of course, because in many cases the jitted code runs in the same environment as the higher-level language.
- phkahler 3y agoIn some sense it's not right to claim python is used in those cases. The core libraries are all written in one of the 4 languages GP listed. Python is just the glue, or high level algorithm.
- SiempreViernes 3y agoSure, but it's a pretty useless sense because it will, among other problems, cause you to answer the question "which language should I teach my undergrads first" completely wrong.