{"id":5243,"date":"2019-08-15T13:12:55","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T20:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/?p=5243"},"modified":"2022-09-11T12:42:34","modified_gmt":"2022-09-11T19:42:34","slug":"python-vs-javascript-speed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-vs-javascript-speed\/","title":{"rendered":"Python vs. JavaScript Speed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Whatever it is that you\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/learn-to-code-with-codecademy\/\">using code for<\/a>, it\u2019s 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.&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Making software that\u2019s lean, effective, and efficient is not only a great way to approach design, it\u2019s also an intriguing question of engineering and computer science.&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As two of the most popular programming languages today are <a href=\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/javascript-and-python\/\">Python and JavaScript<\/a>, we\u2019re going to turn to the question of which is faster for different tasks.\u00a0<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-fast-is-python\"><strong>How Fast Is Python?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/photo-1550172268-9a48af98ac5f.jpg\" alt=\"A yellow python\" class=\"wp-image-5245\"\/><figcaption> Python\u2019s namesake isn\u2019t exactly known for being a <em>slow<\/em> creature.&nbsp;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Python is a lightweight, flexible language that tends to be \u2018fast enough\u2019 for almost anything. While it isn\u2019t built to execute as quickly as it possibly can, it does tend to make developers more effective so projects get done rapidly.&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Python is comparable to interpreted languages like Ruby in terms of execution speed. One reason it isn\u2019t 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\u2019t 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.&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-fast-is-javascript\"><strong>How Fast is JavaScript?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/photo-1496312093257-f869e5d95ce6.jpg\" alt=\"Man preparing to race. \" class=\"wp-image-5246\"\/><figcaption> Depending on the application, a language\u2019s speed can end up being crucially important!&nbsp;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, JavaScript is one of the fastest dynamic languages in existence, but this wasn\u2019t always the case. Until version 8 was released in 2008 JavaScript was known to be quite slow. That release, however, improved JavaScript\u2019s performance by a factor of 10, making it only 2-7 times slower than the same code written in C++.&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being \u2018only\u2019 7 times slower than C++ may not <em>sound<\/em> impressive, but it\u2019s actually a pretty big deal for a language like JavaScript.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-is-python-or-javascript-faster\"><strong>Is Python or JavaScript Faster?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/photo-1495543377553-b2aba1f925d7.jpg\" alt=\" A horse race. \" class=\"wp-image-5247\"\/><figcaption> Life isn\u2019t always about winning. Except <em>when it is.<\/em><br><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s 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\u2019re written in \u2018faster\u2019 languages.&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given how fast modern computer hardware is, it\u2019s 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.&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The real question, then, is how you can become a better programmer in <a href=\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/how-to-code-in-python\/\">Python<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/tutorial-for-javascript-beginners\/\">JavaScript<\/a>. It is important to <a href=\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/how-to-learn-javascript\/\">learn JavaScript<\/a> 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\u2019re likely ever going to need it to be!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whatever it is that you\u2019re using code for, it\u2019s 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.&nbsp; Making software&hellip;","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":5244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50470],"tags":[12688],"class_list":{"0":"post-5243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tech-guides","8":"tag-coding-resources"},"acf":{"post_sub_title":"","sprint_id":"","query_class":"JavaScript","school_sft":"","parent_sft":"","school_privacy_policy":"","has_review":null,"is_sponser_post":"","is_guest_post":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Python vs. JavaScript Speed | Career Karma<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ever wonder whether JavaScript or Python is faster? Career Karma has the information you need.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-vs-javascript-speed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Python vs. JavaScript Speed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ever wonder whether JavaScript or Python is faster? Career Karma has the information you need.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-vs-javascript-speed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Career Karma\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/careerkarmaapp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-15T20:12:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-11T19:42:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/photo-1509099652299-30938b0aeb63.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Trent Fowler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@career_karma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@career_karma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Trent Fowler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-vs-javascript-speed\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-vs-javascript-speed\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Trent Fowler\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/768fb9a38d2c1b146588954736f79aba\"},\"headline\":\"Python vs. JavaScript Speed\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-15T20:12:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-11T19:42:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-vs-javascript-speed\/\"},\"wordCount\":544,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-vs-javascript-speed\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/photo-1509099652299-30938b0aeb63.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"coding resources\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Tech Guides\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-vs-javascript-speed\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-vs-javascript-speed\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-vs-javascript-speed\/\",\"name\":\"Python vs. JavaScript Speed | Career Karma\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-vs-javascript-speed\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-vs-javascript-speed\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/photo-1509099652299-30938b0aeb63.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-15T20:12:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-11T19:42:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/768fb9a38d2c1b146588954736f79aba\"},\"description\":\"Ever wonder whether JavaScript or Python is faster? 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