5 ms·

Why Python is Powerful Enough for Google

23 points by mikeyanderson 13y ago

torducken 13y ago
I have to admit, I am kind of a python hater, but this makes me think...
marcell 13y ago
As far as I can tell, the author does not work for Google, and moreover the article makes no mention of Google aside from the headline.
- mikeyanderson 13y ago
  Here's a good conversation on it: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2560310/heavy-usage-of-python-at-google http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2560310/heavy-usage-of-py...
porter 13y ago
What does google actually use python for? Certainly not everything...
- mikeyanderson 13y ago
  http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2560310/heavy-usage-of-python-at-google http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2560310/heavy-usage-of-py...
- outside1234 13y ago
  Google uses python for non production facing scripts. Everything production facing is C++ or Java.
  - MrBuddyCasino 13y ago
    I thought Youtube was built in Python, is that not true anymore?
    - navatux 13y ago
      yes period.
aioprisan 13y ago
Google uses dozens of different languages in the services they offer. Heck, they even built a few languages themselves, like Go and Dart. Go is definitely used in production as well http://golang.org/doc/faq#Is_Google_using_go_internally http://golang.org/doc/faq#Is_Google_using_go_internally. Is there any data to suggest that Google writes a non-negligible number of apps in Python vs the dozens or so of other languages? I'm curious.
- e12e 13y ago
  They did start out their compute cloud [edit: I mean appengine] with python, and I think they started out offering mercurial hosting first on code.google.com? And they famously employ Guido. I also seem to recall something about reimplementing git in python for code.google.com, but I could be mistaken. [edit2: According to http://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/pyguide.html http://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/pyguide.ht... "Python is the main scripting language used at Google."]
  - jordonwii 13y ago
    > they famously employ Guido "Employed", it appears: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_van_Rossum#Dropbox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_van_Rossum#Dropbox I only just discovered this recently.
pydanny 13y ago
I like this article because some notes I took at Walt Disney Animation Studios is referenced. Yes, today it's all about me :-)
vezzy-fnord 13y ago
I'm not against Python by any means. I like it and I use it fairly often. However this article is very unconvincing. The arguments summed up in order are basically: * Python has generators. * Python interpreters are getting faster. * Argument from popularity. * Holy shit, guys! Did you know that CPython isn't the only Python implementation, and that there's a difference between language specification and implementation? Mind = blown, amirite? * It's so easy... scientists and mathematicians can use it? (Not to say that Python isn't easy, but to make it out like it'd be so impressive for a hard scientist to pick up programming is silly.)
skybrian 13y ago
The decision to make Python an officially supported language inside Google was made a long time ago. It's anyone's guess whether they'd make the same decision today. If Go were around, perhaps they'd have chosen that instead?
examancer 13y ago
Not a lot of meat to this article. "Ra ra, python" with no real comparison to anything else. You could rewrite the article for Ruby or javascript and you'd really just be changing the names of the tools/libraries, the points could remain the same. Generators? Hello Enumerators in Ruby and using simple callbacks in node. Speed? Hello V8 for JS. Hello vast speed improvements in MRI, C extensions, or leaning on the speed of the JVM for Ruby/JRuby. Broad? Javascript is probably the most widely deployed language on the planet, and by many measures the most used. Ruby trails JS, and maybe Python too, but its still plenty popular. Not to mention the depth of libraries for both is pretty stunning. Javascript is not javascript, ruby is not ruby. There are a number of vastly different and wildly popular JS implementations, and embedding JS in other applications is plenty common. Ruby has MRI (CRuby), Rubinius, JRuby (which is much more active than Jython), mruby (embedded ruby), and opal for compiling ruby into JS, not to mention the heavy ruby influences on CoffeeScript and Sugar.js. The articles points are all valid, but none of them really demonstrate that Python is the answer to the article's thesis question: "You are looking for a job, which language should you learn?" That said, Python is great. I like Python. Just not a big fan of poorly argued fan boy articles.
Bhel 13y ago
I like how they use a huge picture of a snake for the article, even when Python isn't named after the animal, but Monty Python. More on topic: Even when Python is one of my favorite languages, this article is plain horrible. Biased, and without any sort of point to compare it to. Python is great for many tasks, but it's just retarded to pretend that it's the best tool to go for everything.
- runjake 13y ago
  If the snake motif is good enough for the official Python website, it's probably good enough for this article.
pathikrit 13y ago
I work at Google. Most of production code is C++/Java. Python is used for scripts, testing frameworks/test harnesses, internal tools like code review and bugs etc.
snakebit 13y ago
FWIW, I'm pretty sure that's a picture of a Boa. So much for attention to detail.
- eappell 13y ago
  Yep, that's a picture of a Dumeril's Boa. Not even in the python family...
gmontard 13y ago
I agree with examancer, you could put Ruby in all your article and it's not going to change anything...
slowdown 13y ago
This is the author's prejudiced opinion spun into an article. I could write the exact same thing for Ruby, Javascript, etc. PLus, if you are starting a company, the last thing that should matter is your tech stack. The first thing that should matter is your sales strategy.

23 points by mikeyanderson 13y ago

I have to admit, I am kind of a python hater, but this makes me think...

As far as I can tell, the author does not work for Google, and moreover the article makes no mention of Google aside from the headline.

mikeyanderson 13y ago
Here's a good conversation on it: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2560310/heavy-usage-of-python-at-google http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2560310/heavy-usage-of-py...

porter 13y ago

What does google actually use python for? Certainly not everything...

mikeyanderson 13y ago
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2560310/heavy-usage-of-python-at-google http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2560310/heavy-usage-of-py...
outside1234 13y ago
Google uses python for non production facing scripts. Everything production facing is C++ or Java.
- MrBuddyCasino 13y ago
  I thought Youtube was built in Python, is that not true anymore?
  - navatux 13y ago
    yes period.

aioprisan 13y ago

Google uses dozens of different languages in the services they offer. Heck, they even built a few languages themselves, like Go and Dart. Go is definitely used in production as well http://golang.org/doc/faq#Is_Google_using_go_internally http://golang.org/doc/faq#Is_Google_using_go_internally. Is there any data to suggest that Google writes a non-negligible number of apps in Python vs the dozens or so of other languages? I'm curious.

e12e 13y ago
They did start out their compute cloud [edit: I mean appengine] with python, and I think they started out offering mercurial hosting first on code.google.com? And they famously employ Guido. I also seem to recall something about reimplementing git in python for code.google.com, but I could be mistaken. [edit2: According to http://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/pyguide.html http://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/pyguide.ht... "Python is the main scripting language used at Google."]
- jordonwii 13y ago
  > they famously employ Guido "Employed", it appears: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_van_Rossum#Dropbox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_van_Rossum#Dropbox I only just discovered this recently.

pydanny 13y ago

I like this article because some notes I took at Walt Disney Animation Studios is referenced. Yes, today it's all about me :-)

vezzy-fnord 13y ago

I'm not against Python by any means. I like it and I use it fairly often. However this article is very unconvincing. The arguments summed up in order are basically: * Python has generators. * Python interpreters are getting faster. * Argument from popularity. * Holy shit, guys! Did you know that CPython isn't the only Python implementation, and that there's a difference between language specification and implementation? Mind = blown, amirite? * It's so easy... scientists and mathematicians can use it? (Not to say that Python isn't easy, but to make it out like it'd be so impressive for a hard scientist to pick up programming is silly.)

skybrian 13y ago

The decision to make Python an officially supported language inside Google was made a long time ago. It's anyone's guess whether they'd make the same decision today. If Go were around, perhaps they'd have chosen that instead?

examancer 13y ago

Not a lot of meat to this article. "Ra ra, python" with no real comparison to anything else. You could rewrite the article for Ruby or javascript and you'd really just be changing the names of the tools/libraries, the points could remain the same. Generators? Hello Enumerators in Ruby and using simple callbacks in node. Speed? Hello V8 for JS. Hello vast speed improvements in MRI, C extensions, or leaning on the speed of the JVM for Ruby/JRuby. Broad? Javascript is probably the most widely deployed language on the planet, and by many measures the most used. Ruby trails JS, and maybe Python too, but its still plenty popular. Not to mention the depth of libraries for both is pretty stunning. Javascript is not javascript, ruby is not ruby. There are a number of vastly different and wildly popular JS implementations, and embedding JS in other applications is plenty common. Ruby has MRI (CRuby), Rubinius, JRuby (which is much more active than Jython), mruby (embedded ruby), and opal for compiling ruby into JS, not to mention the heavy ruby influences on CoffeeScript and Sugar.js. The articles points are all valid, but none of them really demonstrate that Python is the answer to the article's thesis question: "You are looking for a job, which language should you learn?" That said, Python is great. I like Python. Just not a big fan of poorly argued fan boy articles.

Bhel 13y ago

I like how they use a huge picture of a snake for the article, even when Python isn't named after the animal, but Monty Python. More on topic: Even when Python is one of my favorite languages, this article is plain horrible. Biased, and without any sort of point to compare it to. Python is great for many tasks, but it's just retarded to pretend that it's the best tool to go for everything.

runjake 13y ago
If the snake motif is good enough for the official Python website, it's probably good enough for this article.

pathikrit 13y ago

I work at Google. Most of production code is C++/Java. Python is used for scripts, testing frameworks/test harnesses, internal tools like code review and bugs etc.

snakebit 13y ago

FWIW, I'm pretty sure that's a picture of a Boa. So much for attention to detail.

eappell 13y ago
Yep, that's a picture of a Dumeril's Boa. Not even in the python family...

gmontard 13y ago

I agree with examancer, you could put Ruby in all your article and it's not going to change anything...

slowdown 13y ago

This is the author's prejudiced opinion spun into an article. I could write the exact same thing for Ruby, Javascript, etc. PLus, if you are starting a company, the last thing that should matter is your tech stack. The first thing that should matter is your sales strategy.