Design Decision: Python and Django

Python is one of the leading professional programming languages in use today. It was the official programming language of my previous employer and, boy, am I glad I had the chance to learn it! C++ is not much of a web language these days. Many people use Java, PHP and Perl for their web programming. These are all fine languages but it is my personal opinion that they are all inferior to Python for this project.


I have three main reasons to use Python:
1. loosely-typed language

For those non-technical, a loosely-typed (or duck-typed) language forgoes many programming formalities and allows you to make changes to code more quickly. In an atmosphere where I plan to make many changes to accommodate my customer, ease-of change is essential.

2. Readablity

The code for many other programming languages (ahem, PERL) tends to end up messy, with indentation irregularities and differences in formatting. But with Python, indentation is part of the logic flow and the code is more readable from the get-go. Sure, with Python you can make code illegible, but it is much easier to do so in most other languages.

3. Existing libraries

The Django web framework is written in Python. Django is a well-tested, comprehensive and exhaustively documented web framework which, to me is just magical. I have worked with several web frameworks and none is as flexible and easy to use as Django.

Django abstracts many of the mundane and error-prone link table creation out into a fantastic Python API. Django is also sufficiently performant to support numerous production Internet sites. See the Django Website for more information.