Difference between Java and Python

Last Updated: 23 December, 2023

Java and Python are two of the most popular and widely used programming languages. Both are general-purpose languages used for various purposes, including web application development, data analysis, artificial intelligence, etc.

Java and Python have many of the similar features, such as both are object-oriented, high-level, platform-independent programming languages, but apart from the similarities, there are many differences between them that we will see in this tutorial.

Let's first briefly know what Java and Python programming languages are, along with their features. Then, afterward, we will see the differences between both and their programming implementation.

What is Java?

Java is an object-oriented programming language (OOP), and it has so many powerful features that make it one of the most popular, useful, and high-performance programming languages. Java is widely recognized for its object-oriented platform independence, high performance, security, etc.

Java was developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems in 1995, and later on, Oracle Corporation acquired Sun Microsystems in 2009–10.

Java syntax and concepts are easy and simple to learn and understand. That makes Java a simple programming language. Java's syntax is similar to other programming languages like C and C++. The code in Java is always written in the form of classes and objects.

These are the following features of Java that contribute to its wide use and popularity:

1. Object-Oriented: Java is an object-oriented programming (OOP) language. Java programs are developed using classes and objects. Java treats everything as an object.

2. Platform-Independent: Java is a platform-independent language, which means we can develop and compile Java programs on any platform (machine or OS) that can be executed on the same or different platforms.

3. Portable: As Java is platform-independent, we can easily carry Java byte codes (.class files) from one machine to another.

4. Secured: Java has built-in security features to protect against unauthorized access and malicious code execution.

5. Robust: Java is a robust and reliable programming language. Java handles compile-time and run-time errors as it checks the code during compile and runtime.

6. Architecture Neutral: Java is an architecture-neutral programming language because it does not depend on the architecture of a computer, like processors, memory, input/output, the size of primitive types, etc.

7. Compiled and Interpreted: When we write a Java program, the Java compiler (javac) compiles the Java source code (.java file) and generates the intermediate byte code (.class). The JVM serves as an interpreter that converts byte code to machine code, which is portable and can be executed on any platform.

8. High Performance: Java provides high performance as it uses the JIT (Just In Time) compiler. The JIT compiles only the method that is being called. By caching interpretations, the JIT makes byte-code interpretations faster.

9. Multithreaded: Java is a multi-threaded programming language. Multithreading allows a single program to perform two or more tasks simultaneously and increases the application's performance.

10. Distributed: Java has extensive support for distributed computing, allowing applications to be spread across multiple systems for better scalability and resource utilization.

11. Dynamic: Java supports dynamic class loading, allowing classes to be loaded at runtime as needed. This enables modular development and facilitates features like reflection.

12. Simple and Familiar: Java syntax and concepts are easy and simple to learn and work with, which makes Java a simple programming language.

What is Python?

Python is an interpreted, object-oriented, high-level programming language. Python was founded by Guido van Rossum and released in 1991.

Python is dynamically typed and garbage-collected. It supports multiple programming paradigms, including structured (particularly, procedural), object-oriented, and functional programming.

Python is used for web application development, machine learning applications, data science, system scripting, and many more.

Here are some of the key features that make Python a popular and widely used programming language:

1. Interpreted: Python is an interpreted language; its code is executed line by line, so we can see the output results immediately without a separate compilation step. This makes development and debugging faster and more interactive.

2. Object-Oriented: Python is an object-oriented programming language. It supports the concepts of class and object, inheritance, polymorphism, encapsulation, etc.

3. Large Standard Library: Python provides a vast range of libraries for various fields such as machine learning, web development, and scripting.

4. Easy to Learn and Use: Python is easy to learn. Its syntax is straightforward and much the same as the English language.

5. Expressive Language: Python can perform complex tasks using a few lines of code.

6. Free and Open Source: Python is freely available; it can be downloaded from the Python official website, and its source code is also available to the public.

7. GUI Programming Support: A graphic user interface is used for developing desktop applications. PyQT5, Tkinter, and Kivy are the libraries that are used for developing the web application.

8. Integrated: Python is also an integrated language because we can easily integrate Python with other languages like C, C++, etc.

9. Embeddable: Python is an embeddable language, which means Python code can be written into C or C++ programming languages and can also be compiled into C or C++.

10. Cross-Platform: Python code runs seamlessly on different operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux) without modification.

11. Dynamically Typed: In Python, we don't need to explicitly declare variable types, as Python infers them at runtime. This can make coding more flexible and less verbose, but it also requires more careful testing.

Now, let's see the difference between Java and Python, as given in the table below.

Difference between Java and Python

Java vs. Python code examples

Java Program Example

Hello.java

class Hello { public static void main(String args[]) { System.out.println("Welcome to Java Programming World"); } }

Java Program Output

Python Program Example

Hello.pyc

# Python Sample Program print('Welcome to Python Programming World')

Python Program Output