The main thing you need to understand is that "source code" vs. "single deployable artifact" are impossible to evaluate without considering platform requirement

The main thing you need to understand is that "source code" vs. "single deployable artifact" are impossible to evaluate without considering platform requirements. Source code is very compatible across many architectures and operating systems but needs compilation, configuration, and dependencies. Binaries are highly compatible with a single platform and work out of the box. However they are not very compatible with any other platform. The downside is that if you want any feature not provided by the JVM's abstraction layer, at the very least you are in the exact same boat as a python developer.