Hire the best Python developers

Check out Python developers with the skills you need for your next job.

Clients rate Python developers
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4.8/5
based on 45,700 client reviews
Royce E.
$175/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Financial Modeling
  • Investment Research
  • Financial Analysis
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Algorithm Development
  • Quantitative Research
  • Forex Trading
  • Project Risk Management
  • Quantitative Analysis
  • Quantitative Finance
  • Derivatives Trading
  • Financial Trading
  • Trading Automation
  • Trading Strategy

Hi! Upwork uses my first name, Royce, but I go by Aaron (my middle name). I am a quantitative /systematic trader that also helps others with all things related to running algorithmic trading systems. This includes tasks such as system modeling/backtesting, data collection/storing, signal processing based on technical indicators, portfolio and position risk management, etc. I am a skilled programmer that writes well documented and organized code that is easy to follow and build upon. But I provide even more value with my trading knowledge and experience. I've contributed to hundreds of successful projects to date, and look forward to...

Micah L.
$275/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Django
  • Celery
  • Performance Optimization
  • Software Architecture & Design
  • Software Consultation
  • SQL
  • PostgreSQL
  • SQLAlchemy
  • Python Asyncio
  • JavaScript
  • Slack
  • Bot Development
  • Redis
  • Application Integration

I specialize in architecting and building out systems with Django. I've spent years in the framework, using it to do the heavy lifting for both rapidly building prototypes/MVPs, and careful crafting robust, performant, and scalable production systems. I've designed and built APIs using Django REST Framework, done loads of task-based processing with Celery, and worked with many external systems and integrations. I'm also very comfortable as a full stack software engineer in general. I have React, Vue, and general HTML/CSS/Javascript experience necessary to work across frontend parts of any application. Beyond all of that, I have low-level...

Shawn G.
$120/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Docker
  • Automation
  • Linux System Administration
  • Deployment Automation
  • Jenkins
  • DevOps
  • Git
  • CI/CD
  • Ansible
  • GitLab
  • Amazon Web Services
  • Linux
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Ubuntu

I am a technology expert with over 20 years of experience in providing secure, stable, and reliable computing infrastructure. My core passion is building from a blank canvas, to turn your project or product into a reality, whether it's a piece of automation or building a complete application infrastructure. I am also a "jack of all trades" administrator/engineer with experience in & exposure to a variety of industries and environments. This gives me a level of expertise that will provide you with a positive and thorough outcome to any project. My expertise includes many aspects of development, systems administration, and operations: -...

Santosh G.
$50/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Amazon Web Services
  • Flask
  • System Automation
  • SQL
  • API Development
  • Django
  • Amazon DynamoDB
  • Data Visualization
  • Data Science

Greetings ! I am an expert Python and Django developer with 9 years of professional experience. I have experience of working in 95+ jobs and over 13K+ hours with proven success in Upwork and have been maintaining Top Rated (now Top Rated Plus) status consistently since last 5 years. These are the technologies I have command on: Web development using Python/Django in high-traffic environment, Web scraping (using Scrapy framework), AWS technologies (Lambda, Step Functions, EC2, S3, SWF, RedShift, DynamoDB, SimpleDB), Data Science and Machine Learning (numpy, pandas, sckit learn, graphlab), Automation tasks (Python and bash scripts), XML and...

Jesse R.
$80/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Bash
  • NGINX
  • Deployment Automation
  • System Administration
  • Microsoft Azure
  • DNS
  • Automation
  • Amazon Web Services
  • Linux
  • React
  • SQL
  • JavaScript
  • WordPress

My name is Jesse and I'm a passionate consultant who can fill a variety of roles in the tech industry. I started as a sys admin and developer but have also worked in customer success, business operations, and project management. Regardless of the department or role, I love to solve business problems with technology. My passion is automation, and I find streamlining processes to be very engaging.

Dibyaranjan S.
$15/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Selenium
  • Django
  • NumPy
  • Python-Requests
  • RESTful API
  • Beautiful Soup
  • Scrapy
  • PostgreSQL
  • Automation
  • MongoDB
  • MySQL

I am a professional Python Developer with 7 years of experience. I excel at developing codes for scraping website. Along with this, I develop REST API with django as backend and deploy on cloud using Docker. I also have experience in developing real time dashboard using Python dash framework. With a rich coding experience along with great problem solving ability, I can help clients bring their ideas to product. I am a dedicated programmer and always deliver my projects on time and with all the quality requirements. I build maintainable, scalable, reusable code and most importantly user friendly code with proper documentation. I always...

Jรกnos S.
$50/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Embedded Application
  • C++
  • C
  • Embedded System
  • PCB Design
  • Raspberry Pi
  • STM32
  • Git
  • Real-Time Operating System
  • Firmware Programming
  • Linux
  • FreeRTOS
  • ESP32
  • Arduino Firmware

I'm a software engineer with 10+ years of experience in embedded applications. My skills include: - MCUs - ST, Microchip, NXP, Renesas, TI - RTOS - FreeRTOS, RTX, ThreadX - C++, C - STM32Cube, Keil, IAR, AtmelStudio, gcc - Python, make, SCons, git, svn, bash - Arduino I'm an experienced electrical engineer as well, my most significant achievement being to develop, certify and start mass production of a smart meter.

Mohamed E.
$40/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • iOS Development
  • PCB Design
  • Android
  • Embedded C
  • JavaScript
  • ESP32
  • Arduino
  • Real-Time Operating System
  • C#
  • Embedded System
  • Java
  • nRF52
  • Embedded Linux
  • Node.js

I have been working as R&D engineer for 10 years, I developed several products to my customers and those products are being sold all over the world. I was responsible for designing PCB, writing the firmware for the products, developing the software associated with all the products and in some cases participating in the mechanical design. I have a solid experience in developing firmware for micro-controller based embedded systems and it's relative peripherals. I used a lot of architectures such as ARM , 8051, AVR and PIC. I have a solid experience in RTOS and all it's components, I have developed several products using my personal favorite...

Yevhen N.
$60/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Test-Driven Development
  • RESTful API
  • Django
  • Selenium
  • JavaScript
  • Git
  • PostgreSQL
  • Docker

I have 11 years of overall experience developing API and web applications, and for almost three years, I've been working with Python and Django. I am attentive to business details and don't just work on my tasks but try to bring my ideas which would help to improve your project and match your business needs. During my career as a software engineer, I was working on big projects with complex business logic, such as: โ€ข Bank systems โ€ข Project portfolio management system โ€ข Web applications for real estate agencies โ€ข Distributed system for cannabis business โ€ข Social systems โ€ข Healthcare systems โ€ข FinTech systems I have a strong understanding of...

Aisenyi M.
$40/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • ERPNext
  • JavaScript
  • Project Management

Hello! I am an experienced software developer and ERP consultant. I've spent most of the last four years implementing and customizing the open source ERP system ERPNext. I have implemented ERPNext at more than 15 companies in the logististics, insurance and retail industries; ranging in size from 2 to 90+ employees. I have also built ERPNext modules and customization for companies in the Logistics, Insurance and Manufacturing Industry. Over the years I've gained intimate knowledge of the inner workings of ERPNext, the Frappe framework and the Python and Javascript programming languages. I have also gained working knowledge of Finance,...

Arthur A.
$150/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Automation
  • Software Development
  • Quantitative Finance
  • Investment Strategy
  • Quantitative Analysis
  • Financial Modeling
  • Machine Learning
  • Capital Markets
  • Statistics
  • Algorithm Development
  • Quantitative Research
  • Scripting
  • Mathematics
  • Trading Automation

Services: - Development of algorithmic trading systems for a wide range of assets including equities, futures, options, crypto and forex - Automation, backtesting and quantitative research - Evaluation, optimization and consulting to improve investment strategies such as avoiding backtest overfitting and other common pitfalls - Creation of customized indicators, factors, signal services and market scanners including automated notifications - Development and enhancement of framework modules such as execution algorithms (including TCA) and portfolio optimization models - Increasing the efficiency of trading algorithms so that large amounts of...

Kiril V.
$60/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • JavaScript
  • Odoo
  • Elm
  • Elixir

Designer and engineer of information systems built on the Linux platform that help businessโ€™s overcome their marketing and organizational issues. Expert in building solutions around the Odoo web framework and business application suite with experience on more than 60 projects in various roles: developer / lead developer / project manager. Languages: Expert in Python, Javascript, SQL; Proficient in Bash, Elixir/Erlang, Haskell, Elm Web Frameworks: Expert in Odoo; Proficient in Django, Flask Network (application) protocols: HTTP, SMTP Databases: PostgreSQL Web Servers: Nginx Web & Markup: HTML, CSS/SCSS, JSON, XML, Emacs Org-mode Platforms:...

Ilyes K.
$25/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Script
  • C Shell
  • WordPress
  • Java

I master a lot of programming language, I have more than 10 years of experience in the IT development. I like to serve my clients, I can help you with your web / java / python and shell script development

Nic W.
$60/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Data Scraping
  • GIS
  • QGIS
  • Digital Mapping
  • ArcGIS
  • Leaflet
  • JavaScript
  • Web Development
  • Cartography
  • Node.js
  • Google Maps API

I am a GIS consultant specializing in developing custom scripts, tools, and applications to streamline your geospatial workflows. Other skills include digital cartography, spatial analysis, and building custom webmapping tools. I have experience with many GIS programs including ArcGIS, QGIS, Microstation, GlobalMapper. I can develop either stand alone GIS applications, or custom tools for existing GIS software as needed. I have a BSc. in geomatics from the University of Victoria, as well as an Advanced Diploma in GIS from Vancouver Island Univeristy. Noteworthy projects include: developing a stand alone GIS application using Qt and QGIS...

Juris K.
$45/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • C++
  • Git
  • Asynchronous I/O
  • API
  • Django
  • RESTful API
  • Data Mining

Backend developer with hands-on Python experience of more than 5 years. More than 10 years with different software development projects. Projects with background on payment systems, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), back-ends for automation and web. Experience with waterfall and agile methods. Practitioner of Test Driven Development (TDD) method. Interested in API development.

Ibrahim Samil C.
$40/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Back-End Development
  • JavaScript
  • Data Engineering
  • Software Development
  • Web Services Development
  • Influencer Marketing
  • API Integration
  • Django
  • Data Scraping
  • Data Analysis
  • Front-End Development
  • React
  • API Development
  • Data Collection
  • Web Scraping
  • Web Development

- ๐—™๐˜‚๐—น๐—น-๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ~๐Ÿฑ ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ - ๐—˜๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฃ๐˜†๐˜๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜'๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐˜€/๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€ (๐——๐—ท๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ผ, ๐—™๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ธ, ๐—™๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—”๐—ฃ๐—œ ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฐ) - ๐—–๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€, ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐—–๐—ฆ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† & ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜€๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐˜€ - ๐—ฆ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐— ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ & ๐——๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜, ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ~๐Ÿฏ ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ & ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜†๐˜€๐˜ - ๐—•๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜, ๐—ด๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ/๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ...

Payal S.
$90/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • SQL
  • Data Science
  • .NET Framework
  • .NET Core
  • ASP.NET Core
  • ASP.NET Web API
  • Angular
  • Entity Framework
  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Microsoft Power BI Data Visualization

I am a senior programmer with several years of .Net, C#, SQL and Azure application development, API design and development, integration, deployment and testing experience. I have full stack development experience using .Net technologies including some with .Net Core and Angular. I have data science and machine learning knowledge with Python and Azure ML.

Arbรซrim V.
$20/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Flask
  • Selenium
  • Testing
  • jBPM
  • Network Engineering
  • Automation
  • Python Pandas
  • NumPy

I'm a developer with experience in web applications and Restful web services and APIs using Python, Flask. Experienced in developing business process modeling system using jBPM and if you are trying to automate business processes and decisions, I'm here to help. Skills: - Python 3.x, Pandas, Numpy, Flask - Networking, Routing Protocols (OSPF, BPG) - jBPM, Bussiness process - Automation, Selenium - Databases, MySQL (MariaDB, PostgreSQL)

Andrew K.
$50/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Automation
  • XenForo
  • Shopify
  • Autoit
  • Bot Development
  • PSD to HTML
  • Laravel
  • API Integration
  • Yii
  • Vue.js
  • JavaScript
  • SQL
  • PHP
  • WordPress

I'm a PHP and Python developer with 6+ years of experience. My passion is back-end programming. I like coding the software logic making all the 'magic' behind the curtains. Here is my shortlist of skills and experience. Python: - building chat-bost (Telegram, Discord, social networks) - making different web-scrapers - web-development and interacting directly with MySQL - building different analytics and working with cryptocurrency APIs PHP: - a full-stack web developer with 6+ years of CodeIgniter/WordPress/Opencart experience. - developed several websites and web applications (most of them are written from scratch, and others are based...

Vedat Y.
$30/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Elasticsearch
  • Java
  • Bash Programming
  • Windows PowerShell
  • SNMP
  • SQL
  • Perl
  • Docker
  • Cacti
  • DHCP
  • DNS

- Linux System Administration (Redhat, Centos, Ubuntu, Debian) - Microsoft Windows Server - Ansible - Docker - Bash scripting, Perl, Python, PowerShell - Cacti monitoring - Elasticsearch Logstash Kibana - Automation - Active Directory - Java, Python, JavaScript - SQL - MySQL, Firebird, PostgreSQL Administration - SNMP - WinRM - TCP/IP Network - Cisco - MikroTik - Balena

Vladimir P.
$60/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Telecommunications Engineering
  • Machine Learning
  • MATLAB
  • Wireless Network Implementation
  • Network Design
  • Data Mining
  • MATLAB Script
  • Wireless Communication
  • Network Engineering

Wireless systems and machine learning professional, passionate about engineering challenges. I do care about client's work as if it was my own business. My professional interests include (but are not limited to): telecommunication engineering, mobile networks evolution and development, data science, machine learning Examples of areas, activities, technologies and tools I am experienced in: * Telecom: - GSM/UMTS/LTE/5GNR - mmWave - RF planning and optimization - wireless R&D - MATLAB - system testing * Machine learning & computer science - Python and R - Probability and statistics - Pandas, Numpy, Sklearn - Tensorflow, Keras,...

Shahzeb M.
$50/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Flutter
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Zapier
  • Microsoft Windows Powershell
  • Grafana
  • Cisco Certified Network Associate
  • Prometheus
  • Google Cloud Platform
  • Django
  • WordPress
  • Selenium
  • React
  • SQL
  • Microsoft Power BI

Software Engineer + MBA with 5+ years of experience in creating world-class software solutions for clients! ๐Ÿ’ป Owner of Upwork agency ๐Ÿข - Techanzy (100% JSS) 45+ projects completed on Upwork with 5/5 Rating ๐Ÿ‘ 10+ projects managed as Agency owner and delivered with 5/5 Rating ๐Ÿ‘ 5+ enterprise projects completed outside of Upwork ๐Ÿ“€ 500+ hours worked on Upwork with a 5/5 Rating 5 ๐Ÿ’ป My expertise involves connecting & integrating multiple systems to deliver a completely customized software solution for a targeted problem. As a result of this - I have experience in a wide range of technologies: ๐Ÿ“ฑ Cross-Platform Frontend Application...

Maksym B.
$50/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • PostgreSQL
  • MongoDB
  • Web Crawling
  • Back-End Development
  • Data Analysis
  • Celery
  • Data Engineering
  • Redis
  • Selenium
  • Python-Requests
  • Data Scraping
  • Data Extraction
  • pandas

Greetings! I am Max, a top-tier Python developer specializing in data extraction, scraping, and analysis. With over six years of experience, I have honed my skills in utilizing an array of libraries and tools to gather data from diverse sources. My expertise lies in the following libraries: Requests, aiohttp, and httpx, and content analysis tools such as lxml and BeautifulSoup. Additionally, I am adept at analyzing mobile app traffic, a niche skill set that proves invaluable for extracting data from mobile applications. I excel in using browser emulation libraries like Playwright and Selenium, empowering me to mimic real user behavior and...

Vincent C.
$100/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • C++
  • Forex Trading
  • Node.js
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Finance & Accounting
  • Web Scraper
  • Flask
  • C#

I have a dual profency in trading and programming. Indeed, I graduated from a business school with a MS in Financial Markets and also developed my programming skills on a trading floor in Paris. 7 years of experience in trading automation. I also publish courses on Udemy dealing with programming/finance (12 000 students). --|-- Areas covered by my projects so far --|-- โ€ข Interactive Brokers API โ€ข Crypto Exchange APIs (Bittrex, Bitfinex, Gdax, Binance, Bybit, FTX, Huobi, HitBTC, Dobi, Bitmex, Exrates, GateIO, LiveCoin, Kraken, RightBTC, Hotbit, Exmo, Poloniex, Gemini, Coinbene, Yobit, Liquid, Cryptopia, Mercatox, Bleutrade,...) โ€ข...

Daniel J.
$70/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • Django
  • PostgreSQL
  • SQLite
  • Docker
  • Test Automation
  • CI/CD
  • REST
  • GraphQL

I'm a professional software developer, who mainly works in Python, in particular my day-to-day job involves Django, PostgreSQL/SQLite, REST/GraphQL and DevOps tasks (CI/CD, Docker, etc.). I've written lots of little side projects in Python, so I have a pretty extensive knowledge in that area.

Muthukrishnan N.
$35/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • API
  • PHP
  • Node.js
  • Laravel
  • Microservice
  • Docker Compose
  • MongoDB
  • Microsoft Teams
  • NestJS
  • Slack
  • Chatbot Development
  • API Integration
  • AWS Lambda
  • Amazon Web Services

Hello, I am a highly experienced developer with over 9 years of experience in developing applications using Python, Node.js, and PHP. I specialize in developing optimized and efficient applications, strictly following the best coding practices, and design patterns. I also have experience in automation and building RESTful APIs and working with popular web frameworks like Flask, NestJs and Laravel. My experience also includes working with popular databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB. I have implemented scalable and efficient database designs that are optimized for high-performance and reliability. I have extensive experience in...

Ravi C.
$40/hr
  • Trophy Icon Python
  • MySQL
  • Business Intelligence
  • Data Modeling
  • Data Analysis
  • Visualization
  • Business Analysis
  • Power Query
  • Statistics
  • Report
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Data Visualization
  • Microsoft Power BI
  • SQL

I have a proven record of accomplishment of delivering outstanding results for my clients, top-rated plus Power BI Consultant on Upwork with a 100% success rate with 12+ jobs and 5-star ratings. My expertise in Power BI enables me to create interactive and visually appealing dashboards that make it easy for clients to understand and act on their data. I am proficient in Power BI, SQL, and other data management tools and I am skilled in data cleaning, transformation, and modeling. As a Power BI specialist with a Microsoft Certified Data Analyst Associate, I approach every project with a creative problem-solving mindset, utilizing my diverse...

$NaN/hr

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Python: A Powerful Language for High-Traffic, Data-Heavy Apps

Python is a widely used, general-purpose, high-level back-end programming language thatโ€™s highly valued by startups who need to quickly prototype and develop applications, as well as data-driven companies that need to integrate data analysis and statistical techniques into their workflows.

Its combination of readability, flexibility, and suitability to data science operations have made Python one of the most popular and beloved languages according to developers on Stack Overflow. In this article, weโ€™ll explore what sets Python apart from other programming languages, why itโ€™s popular with data scientists, and what you should look for in a Python engineer.

High-level, readable, and efficient

One of Pythonโ€™s defining characteristics is its efficiency. Every programming language has to balance the programmerโ€™s time and the machineโ€™s resources. Python is biased toward the former, with a guiding philosophy that comes down to โ€œthere should be oneโ€”and preferably only oneโ€”obvious way to do something.โ€ That can mean thereโ€™s a bit of a learning curve as developers learn the ins and outs of Python syntax, but the upside is that developers can do more with fewer lines of code compared to more lower-level implementation languages like Java or C++. This efficiency is especially valuable for startups who need to quickly prototype applications and get them to market.

Python is also famous for its code readability, meaning that an application written by a developer in Python is more likely to be intelligible to the developers who have to maintain it months and years down the line.

Beloved by data scientists

Along with R and Java, Python is one of the most popular languages for data science and statistical analysis. For data scientists, Python combines Javaโ€™s suitability for building high-traffic web applications with Rโ€™s focus on executing complex statistical functions.

Another one of Pythonโ€™s strongest assets is its extensive set of libraries. These libraries can make it easier for developers to perform complex machine learning or statistical analysis tasks without having to rewrite many lines of code. Some of the most popular libraries include tools for data manipulation and visualization (NumPy, SciPy, and matplotlib), data mining and Natural Language Processing (Pattern, NLTK). Perhaps unsurprisingly, Python is the language of choice for organizations with data-heavy workflows, from YouTube to the New York Stock Exchange to the National Web Service.

Python basics

  • Itโ€™s object-oriented.
  • Itโ€™s cross-platform, working on Linux, Windows, Mac, and most other operating systems.
  • Pythonโ€™s standard library supports:
    • HTML & XML
    • JSON
    • E-mail processing
    • HTTP Server libraries, easy for developing servers, and support for FTP, IMAP, and other Internet protocols
  • Itโ€™s free and supported by an active open-source community.
  • Itโ€™s often substituted for PHP in the LAMP software stack.

The Python developerโ€™s toolbox

What should you look for in a Python engineer? Experience on large-scale, high-traffic applications is at the top of the list, along with fluency in SQL and database optimization. Common duties and core skills of Python developers include modular programming, object-oriented programming, and extensive experience with SQL.

A guide to Python web frameworks

Full-stack or microframework?

One of your main considerations in choosing a framework should be the size and complexity of your project. If youโ€™re trying to get a feature-rich web app that will integrate with the rest of your organizationโ€™s systems, then a full-stack option could potentially save your team lots of time and effort. If, on the other hand, youโ€™re working on a small, relatively simple project with few requirements, then a microframework might have everything you need.

A related question is how much โ€œscaffoldingโ€ you need from a framework. A full-stack option should have just about everything you need to actually build a functioning web appโ€“form generators, templating, access control lists, etcโ€“so your team can assemble the pieces as needed. This is an attractive option for teams that are trying to get a product together quickly because it allows them to focus on actually building the app and not the stuff that goes around it. But if you have complex custom requirements or are working with a lot of customized software already, you may not be able to take advantage of all those libraries in the first place.

Full-stack options

There are a bunch of full-stack options when it comes to Python frameworks. Some prominent examples include TurboGears 2, Pylons, and Web2py. That said, the most popular option, by far, is Django.

Django is the most popular Python framework around, and itโ€™s easy to understand why. Thousands of websites are currently using Django, from daily newspapers to social media and sharing sites to major foundations and nonprofits. Since Django was originally developed for use in the newsroom, itโ€™s no surprise that major daily publications like the Washington Post and The Guardian rely on it. Startups like Eventbrite and Disqus have turned to Django to scale quickly, while social media behemoths like Instagram and Pinterest have used it to power their dynamic web apps.

As a framework, Django is known for being fast to build and friendly to beginning programmers. Itโ€™s a โ€œbatteries includedโ€ framework, meaning it supplies all the critical components you needโ€“template rendering, ORM, authentication, routing, etc. Itโ€™s also exceedingly well-documented, which isnโ€™t necessarily the case with some other popular frameworks.

By taking care of a lot of decisions, Django can dramatically speed up the time it takes to bootstrap a new project. What you gain in speed, though, you may lose in long-term flexibility. For example, Djangoโ€™s built-in ORM is considered fine for a majority of cases, but itโ€™s not as powerful an ORM as SQLAlchemy, which is widely viewed as the best Python database abstraction tool. While you can theoretically use SQLAlchemy with Django, youโ€™ll lose a lot of the functionality that makes Django so appealing to begin with.

Web2py is another popular full-stack framework. One thing to keep in mind about Web2py is that it doesnโ€™t support Python 3. The original developer of Web2py has promised a Python 3-compatible successor, but as of 2017 it hasnโ€™t appeared.

Despite now being nearly a decade behind the latest version of Python, Web2py is still used by many major organizations, including a number of international banks. What makes this older framework still appealing for many developers? For one, itโ€™s as easy to learn as Django, but also more flexible and extremely portable. The same code can run on just about any VPS with a SQL database or MongoDB, whether AWS or Google App Engine.

Web2py is extremely well supported with book-length documentation and a passionate community behind it. Another neat feature is that Web2py comes with its own IDE that includes a code editor, debugger, bug ticketing system, one-click deployment, and more. If your organization is committed to Python 2 for the foreseeable future or you plan to make use of some older Python libraries and software, then Web2py could suit your needs just fine.

Pyramid isnโ€™t technically a full-stack framework. It instead bills itself as the โ€œGoldilocksโ€ framework, feature-rich without enforcing one way of doing things, lightweight without leaving you on your own as your app grows. Itโ€™s a favorite framework among many experienced Python developers thanks to its modularity and transparency, and has been used by small teams as well as tech giants like Dropbox, Yelp, SurveyMonkey, and Mozilla.

Practically speaking, nearly all of Pyramidโ€™s components can be swapped out. You can choose how you connect to a database, or even what type (or types) of databases you want to be able to connect to. It doesnโ€™t enforce certain choices for you the way Django does, and it also discourages the sort of โ€œmagicโ€ features that handle certain tasks automatically but donโ€™t always behave in a predictable or desirable manner.

Pyramid is often celebrated for its security system, which makes it easy to set up and check access control lists. Another point worth calling out is Pyramidโ€™s Traversal system for mapping URLs to code, which can make building RESTful APIs much easier.

Microframeworks

What if you donโ€™t need the hand-holding or complexity of a full-stack framework? Many modern web apps require lots of moving parts, including database abstraction, form validation, and customized access control lists. But there are also plenty of web apps that donโ€™t need any of that. For those kinds of projects, a microframework may be just whatโ€™s needed.

These ultra-lightweight frameworks are designed to get dead simple web apps up and running as quickly as possible. Their feature sets are minimal by designโ€“anything functionality you could get by installing another library is deliberately left out. The plus side of this minimalist approach is that your code can be cleaner and your website faster. This is at least partly because microframeworks are generally less abstracted than full-stack frameworks. The code you write will be much closer to actual HTTP functions than with a more beginner-friendly framework.

Flask is probably the most popular microframework for Python, and one of the most popular Python frameworks, period. Like Django, itโ€™s designed to get web apps up and running as quickly and painlessly as possible. Despite its small size, Flask has been used by big companies, including LinkedIn and Pinterest.

However, thereโ€™s a twist, which is that Flask is definitely suited to smaller, simpler projects than Django. Out of the box, you can expect a development web server, built-in unit testing, and support for Google App Engine. Now hereโ€™s a taste of what you wonโ€™t find in vanilla Flask: Thereโ€™s no database abstraction layer, form validation, authentication, or upload handling, though all these features can be added through extensions. Some of the more common setups include Jinja2 for templating and CouchDB or SQLAlchemy for the database.

Some Python developers prefer Flask to Django because Flask is more โ€œpythonic,โ€ in that it mostly sticks to the Python mantra of there being one way to do something and that code should be explicit about what itโ€™s doing. If you value clean code and donโ€™t mind coding closer to the metal, then Flask may be a good option.

Bottle is another popular microframework. It was originally designed for building web APIs, and thatโ€™s still a good use case for it. Whatโ€™s novel about Bottle is it tries to implement everything in one single file, which should give you an idea of how โ€œmicroโ€ itโ€™s designed to be. Out of the box it comes with routing, templating, utilities, and some basic abstraction over the WSGI standard. As with Flask, youโ€™ll be coding much closer to the metal than with a full-stack framework. Despite its small size, Bottle has been used by the Netflix team to build web interfaces.

Python vs. Ruby

First, the similarities

Both are high-level, server-side scripting languages focusing on simplicity and prioritizing rapid developmentโ€”getting things done fast, in fewer lines of code. These scripts eschew verbose code, strict hierarchy, and syntax correctness for more behind-the-scenes, object-oriented logic.

Theyโ€™re used by entrepreneurs and startups alike to rapidly whip up web apps and prototypes, thanks to standard libraries, persistence support, and feature-packed frameworksโ€”Pythonโ€™s Django framework, and Rubyโ€™s Ruby on Rails. Both are interpreted scripting languages, which means they donโ€™t require a compiler like Scala or C++ do. Compiled languages tend to run faster, though. Rule of thumb? What you get in speed of development, you lose in runtime speed.

Now, letโ€™s dive into their differences, starting with Ruby.

Ruby & the Ruby on Rails framework

Created in 1995, Ruby is object-oriented to its core, influenced by languages like C++, Perl, and Java. Hereโ€™s a look at Ruby, a language thatโ€™s ideal for collaboration, speed, and businesses that want a programming language that thinks as fast as they do.

Preferred for: Web development, functional programming

Philosophy: โ€œDo more with less.โ€ Developer freedom and flexibility, and more than one way to do thingsโ€”something it inherited from Perl

Why developers love Ruby: Loose and creative coding, frequent updates, freedom and flexibility, and readable code thatโ€™s never confusing

Python & the Django framework

Python is all about efficiency and supporting calculation-heavy applications used in the fields of data and science. Along with its Django framework, Python enables super fast development.

Preferred for: Academic and scientific programming. Python has a slew of libraries for data work.

Philosophy: โ€œOne right way to do thingsโ€

Why developers love Python: Stability over change, conservative code, fewer updates

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