Question

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Choosing Java vs Python on Google App Engine

We are going to use Google Appengine platform for our next big web project.But we are not sure which flavour to use: Java or Python.

Could you please, advise on cons and pros of each approach? Which is the best way in order to build more scalable and efficient solution quicker.

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

I gave the accepted answer to the question a comment claims is “very similar” — but that was nearly a year ago. I’m still biased the same way (still expert on Python, rusty in Java), but in the intervening year I would say the Java runtime has just about caught up to the Python one — or, if not quite that yet, it has made serious strides (as have both runtimes “in parallel”, of course;-). Most of my general considerations in that answer remain roughly valid.

So the main consideration today is, I think, how familiar is the team with Python, and how familiar with Java — if very familiar with one and not at all with the other, go with what you already know, as the time needed to “catch up” on the other is a cost that’s probably larger than the advantages you could get one way or another (to a hobbyist wanting a “mind expanding” experience I’d recommend the reverse: take the opportunity to learn what you don’t yet know — but in terms of immediate productivity, staying with what you know increases it;-).

If there’s some “killer library” that you’ve ascertained runs well with one of the runtimes and that you’re really keen to use in your apps, that could be the decisive factor, if differences of familiarity with the two languages are not decisive in your case.