Python vs. JavaScript Speed

Whatever it is that you’re using code for, it’s hard not to eventually become interested in the problem of optimization. Just as many people go from simply driving a car everyday to becoming fascinated by the mechanics of the underlying machine, software engineers often begin casting around for faster ways of solving problems. 

Making software that’s lean, effective, and efficient is not only a great way to approach design, it’s also an intriguing question of engineering and computer science. 

As two of the most popular programming languages today are Python and JavaScript, we’re going to turn to the question of which is faster for different tasks. 

How Fast Is Python?

Python is a lightweight, flexible language that tends to be ‘fast enough’ for almost anything. While it isn’t built to execute as quickly as it possibly can, it does tend to make developers more effective so projects get done rapidly. 

Python is comparable to interpreted languages like Ruby in terms of execution speed. One reason it isn’t as fast is it could be is due to the limitations of some of the underlying technology. Java compiles down to bytecode which is executed on a Java Virtual Machine, which makes it fast. Python goes through more high-level translation layers before it finally becomes code that the hardware understands. This slows it down. It isn’t impossible that the Python core developers could fix some of these issues and make a faster version of Python, and indeed there are projects aimed at doing this exact thing in the works. 

How Fast is JavaScript? 

Today, JavaScript is one of the fastest dynamic languages in existence, but this wasn’t always the case. Until version 8 was released in 2008 JavaScript was known to be quite slow. That release, however, improved JavaScript’s performance by a factor of 10, making it only 2-7 times slower than the same code written in C++. 

Being ‘only’ 7 times slower than C++ may not sound impressive, but it’s actually a pretty big deal for a language like JavaScript.  

Is Python or JavaScript Faster? 

It’s pretty hard to provide a general, all-purpose answer to this question. Speed varies tremendously by problem domain, implementation, and code design. Well-written algorithms will almost always outperform poorly-written ones, even when they’re written in ‘faster’ languages. 

Given how fast modern computer hardware is, it’s pretty rare for developers to come up against serious latency problems stemming from language implementations that are just too slow. It happens in places like supercomputing and ultra-hardcore graphics processing, but almost nowhere else. 

The real question, then, is how you can become a better programmer in Python or JavaScript. It is important to learn JavaScript and Python as a full stack web developer or programming expert. Additionally writing good, clean code that efficiently solves problems, can be every bit as fast as you’re likely ever going to need it to be!