throwawayjdk81

The example they give later in the article is also pretty verbose and includes much more "magic" than Java

Example:

  import antigravity

  def main():
    antigravity.fly()

  if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

I would argue that there is nothing simple about the last if-statement and will probably be very confusing for new developers.

The classic "public static void main" example is also getting old. It's been so long since I last wrote it, that I actually had to copy/paste it from the article. I just generate a new project from the "Spring initializer" plugin and jump straight into the real work.

If we want to measure developer productivity we should try to compare actual real world usage that goes beyond "hello world" using Notepad. The author did provide more examples in the article, but I think we should just retire the basic minimal hello world example for these types of discussions.

If their argument is that Python is simpler for quick scripts and programs, I agree. The same applies to ML / AI where Python has lots of great tools. Once you start looking at other areas (Django and FastAPI), there are many alternatives based on other languages where you can be just as productive.

Most of the time consuming work is spent doing business logic where the differences between languages doesn't matter as much. They all have advantages and disadvantages. Personally I prefer static typing for larger projects and teams.

If their argument is that Python is better in general, they need to provide better arguments.