python vs java

[Andy Dingley]

Aravind wrote:

> some of my friends told that python and java are similar in the idea of
> platform independency.

Similar in goal, but quite different in approach.

Python supports lots of platforms and goes to great lengths to offer
facades around whatever  features a platform does have, so as to offer
the same benefits as Unix.  Java lives in a virtualised environment
where it pretends there aren't any platforms. Perl pretends everything
_is_ Unix and falls flat when it isn't.

If you can cope with this, Java is simpler and less platform-bound.

If you actually need to get OS-level work done, Python is wonderful.
You can write stuff that hooks in at a fairly deep level, yet really is
portable.