Two of the most commonly used programming languages in the field of data science, data analytics, and machine learning are Python and Scala. Scala vs. Python is currently the subject of a trending debate comparing the pros and cons of both languages.
How does Python work?
Modern software developers often use Python, an interpreted programming language. Object-oriented programming, functional programming, and procedural programming are supported, and Modularity makes it easy to integrate with other technologies.
How does Scala work?
In addition to its multiparadigm capabilities, Scala offers more advanced functional features such as immutability, currying, and lazy evaluation. Its strength is that it can interact with Java code easily since it was built for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).
Main differences between Python and Scala
- Performance optimization
In Scala, source code is translated to efficient machine representations before compilation, making it faster than Python. Since Scala is based on Java Virtual Machine, Scala can take advantage of its many performance optimizations.
- Multiple platforms
Multiple platforms support Python’s interpreter. The source code of Scala is compiled into Java bytecode since it is based on the JVM. There is a difference between the two languages in terms of their tools, but both can be run on the majority of platforms.
- Concurrency
Using event-based programming, you can interact with data using both internal Java and Scala APIs. Scala provides better memory management and faster data processing than Python, which cannot handle concurrency or multithreading.
- Data science and machine learning applications
In the field of machine learning and data science, Python is the preferred language. It offers extensive libraries and frameworks and is easy to learn and implement. A big data processing framework called Apache Spark is written in Scala, which is the primary language used. Data science and data engineering teams are increasingly using Scala to process Big Data.
- Characteristics
Software engineering skills can be developed more easily with the Scala language. A majority of the tools inside are functional programming and DSLs. Mathematical theories help developers simplify solutions using Functional Programming. In comparison, Python has a number of features that have made it a very popular software development tool. Besides being fast and easy to learn, it provides efficient high-level data structures and an object-oriented programming (OOP) approach that is straightforward but very effective.
- Functionality
There are substantial differences between the two, but there is no doubt that they are both functional. Machine learning, natural language processing, GraphX, GraphFrames, and MLLib projects are better done with Scala, while other programming tasks are better done with Python.
- Restoring and maintaining the code
Python is more difficult to restore code than Scala. Because Scala is statically typed, compile-time errors are easier to find. You’re less likely to catch bugs before runtime if you don’t use type hints and type hints checkers in Python.
Final words
Scala and Python are both open-source programming languages used for data processing. In addition, they each have their own advantages and disadvantages, making each one more suitable for certain types of projects or businesses. Your business needs are what determine which option is right for you.