Web Dev Stacks versus Python - How are they connected?

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Hi campers,

I have a general/abstract question. In what way are the Python ecosystem and Web Dev stack ecosystems interconnected? While they are both just coding languages, it feels like in certain use cases they are industry-specific (i.e. in architecture, nobody really cares about JavaScript, only Python).

I’m not asking about “which one to pick”, because I decided to learn JavaScript, but like how would one complement the other, besides the fact that “learning one language makes it easier to pick up another”.

I would like to know if there are interesting libraries/use cases where these two systems intermix/cross-collaborate.

Thank you.

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@echoCORN21 Python is a general purpose programming language that is used on the backend. Javascript is a general purpose programming language that was made for the web it runs in the the frontend (meaning the browser). You can easily use both languages in one project. I have done so many times.
If you create a website with Javascript and you want to process data from users and store it in a database that is where the backend comes in. You will need Python, Nodejs, PHP, Java or some other language for the backend.

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“web dev stacks” and “Python” are not mutually exclusive, and it sounds like you think they are?

Python can absolutely be part of a web dev stack, as can almost any other common programming language today. A stack with Python would likely include either Flask or Django, which are both Python web frameworks. And that only covers the back-end - you would still need to add a database, along with the front-end (HTML, CSS, JavaScript).

Additionally, web development is not the only “application” that Python can be used for, as it’s also commonly used for AI, ML, and data science. Python is certainly popularly used for web development as well though, especially with smaller companies.

And as mentioned above, Python and JavaScript can be used in the same project/application. In fact, you could theoretically use JavaScript on the front-end (via Angular, React, or Vue) coupled to a Python back-end via Flask or Django.

As far as “academically” learning programming languages, I personally consider Python and JavaScript fairly similar to each other, so IMO there’s not much point to learning both, at least not immediately. Although if you’re a beginner, it’s probably a good idea to start with Python regardless, although you could just as easily go with Ruby instead, which is also relatively easy to learn. Once you master one of these languages well (JavaScript, Python, and/or Ruby), I’d highly recommend a totally different language like one of the C family-based ones (C# is probably the best modern classical OOP language to learn in 2020-21, although there’s a case to be made for Java as well), or one of the “trendy” ones like Rust, Go, Elixir, or Scala.

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“Web Development” does generally involve some JavaScript on the client side (and on the client build tooling side, as most tools for that are currently written in JS), though it does not have to. For example, a system could just render HTML if web pages are required: building that system is still “web development”. Building web APIs is also “web development”, and they wouldn’t even be expected to render any web pages. Everything bar the front-end interactive parts that require JS can be built in (literally!) any language, Python being an exceptionally common one. “Everything else” in this context is still web development.

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Hey, thanks so much, everyone. It’s a little clearer to me now, what the distinctions are.
I struggled with Python in college, so I decided to start with Javascript again over the past year.

I think I was still naive in thinking that “web development” always has to deal with the browser, but that’s not the case.

Because a lot of (building) architects work with building plugins for existing C# applications, they tend to prefer python (using IronPythonwrappers) and don’t do much in the front-end browser world. But my goal is to start with learning front-end and migrate back towards back-end, and eventually link back up to what the “architect-dev” folks are doing with python and C#. From what you guys are telling me, that is definitely a workable route. Thank you!

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