Does Python compete with Java?

[Jacek Generowicz]

Chris Herborth <chrish at cryptocard.com> writes:

> One of Python's most awesome features (IMHO at least) is that you can
> fire up an interactive interpreter while you're writing your code, and
> try things out as you go... using this technique, I've unit tested
> methods and algorithms interactively and ended up with useful,
> non-trivial applications that run and work properly the first time.
> 
> 
> With compiled languages (Java, C#, C++), I find I'm writing a bit of
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> code, taking a break to compile it, figuring out how to unit test the
> method... Python saves me a huge amount of time in the prototype and
> development cycles.

Please note that this has nothing to do with compilation per-se. There
are languages with to-native-binary compilers which give you all the
instant turnaround flexibility that Python does.

Indeed, there are even some development environments for the languages
you mention which try to provide a similar experience.