Python is amazing for scripting.
Python is terrible for writing big systems.
Projects whose V1 is written in Go/Rust/C++ don't normally go out and re-write V2 in Python.
The reverse is really common.
Even many famous Python packages are now Python wrappers.
> Projects whose V1 is written in Go/Rust/C++ don't normally go out and re-write V2 in Python.
That's because you would usually rewrite your Python program in something like C++ if you realise that it's too slow and you need the speed of a compiled language, despite the enormous extra complexity to create and maintain it that way.
You wouldn't go back the other way because it's very rare to go to all that extra effort writing in a more efficient language only to realise that the slower performance of Python would've been adequate after all. And, thanks to sunk cost fallacy, even someone that does realise it is unlikely to make the switch back.
There's no way you could convince me that writing your program in C++ is easier to code in, even for a very large system, than Python. C# maybe.
> Even many famous Python packages are now Python wrappers.
Of course! That's precisely because Python is much simpler to code in. If your Python libraries are wrappers around native code then you get the speed benefit without having to drop into those languages. (Plus they can release the GIL, allowing true multithreaded Python.)
If native coding languages were good enough then there would be no need for Python wrappers - you'd just call into the native library directly.
That and how many developers who would write first round in Go/Rust/C++ would think it beneath them to write in Python :) The complaints alone wouldn't be worth it even if there was some suprising specific use case.
If you use the typing system (which I do religiously) Python becomes a lot easier to reason about in larger projects it also makes linters and refactoring tools easier to use.
I dont know if the reasoning for a rewrite is purely for maintainability though. Ive used python at scale and its fine if you have reasonably good code hygiene. The reason I'd want to rewrite in any of those languages is they're significantly faster _and_ are maintainable at scale.
> Ive used python at scale and its fine if you have reasonably good code hygiene.
True but that's the problem. Once you have a big enough team, it becomes an uphill battle to maintain that.
Exactly. A lot of people forget that Python is just shell scripting++, taken way too far.
Python is faster to write so obviously you'll see things built in Python first more often than the reverse. What's that quote -- "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool..."
Indeed. Python is faster to write and harder to maintain over the long run.
The "faster to write" advantage becomes less relevant if most code is going to be auto-generated.
The "harder to maintain" might still remain more relevant.