A business Case for Enterprise Python [closed]

Question

This will not be a "programming" question but more technology / platform related question. I'm trying to figure out whether Python can be a suitable Java alternative for enterprise / web applications.

Which are the ideal cases where you would prefer to use Python instead of Java? How would a typical Python web application (databases/sessions/concurrency) perform as compared to a typical Java application? How do specific Python frameworks square up against Java based frameworks (Spring, SEAM, Grails etc.)?

For businesses, switching from the Java infrastructure to a Python infrastructure .. is it too hard/expensive/resource intensive/not viable? Also shed some light on the business case for providing a Python + Google AppEngine based solution to the end customer. Will it be cost effective in an typical scenario?

Sorry if I am asking too wide a question, I would have liked to keep it specific, but I need your help to evaluate Python as a whole from the perspectives of the programmers, service providing company and end business customer.

For an SME, a Python/GoogleAppEngine based technology stack is a clear scalable and affordable platform. But what about a large MNC that already has a lot invested in Java.

Thank you so much. I am researching this myself and will gladly share my conclusions here!

Thank you, Srirangan

Answer 1

An enterprise that already has a terabucks of Java investments should add jython to their mix of technologies -- it can be adopted gradually and progressively, at first for ancillary functions such as testing, "one-off" data migrations &c, prototyping of new functionality, cases in which using some existing open source Python library is obviously very handy, and so on, and so forth -- then, as the many Java developers in the company learn to use Jython, some of the prototypes will just be put in production as Jython code because there would be no advantage recoding them, some old subsystem needing recoding will be recoded in Jython, and so forth.

It's never really a wise decision to throw away a huge existing and working codebase and the ginormous investment it represents -- Python's strengths include its wealth of strong, production-level implementations, how well they "play with others", and how well Python can gradually and incrementally infiltrate most any development shop.

Answer 2

The larger your investment in an existing technology is, the more expensive it is to move away from it. COBOL is perhaps the best example here.

That investment isn't just in porting existing solutions, but also in retraining or hiring new staff so that you have the skill sets to build and support the new technologies even while still maintaining your legacy solutions.

Add to that the fact that for most large Multinational Corporations, software isn't their core business. As long as it functions effectively and fulfills the business need, they don't tend to care so much about the 'details'.

You need to be able to offer some pretty compelling benefits to overcome this kind of inertia.

Sad but true.