Had to pick between Python and JavaScript for my first real project, still think about it

Back in 2018 I was learning to code in Austin and my buddy wanted to build a simple habit tracker for his gym clients. I had been doing tutorials in Python for about 3 months, but JavaScript felt like the safer bet since it runs anywhere. I went with Python because the syntax just clicked for me and honestly the project took 2 weeks longer than I planned because I kept fighting with JSON parsing. Now I do more JS for work but I always wonder if picking the other one first would've made me a different kind of dev. Anyone else feel like their first language choice still shapes how they solve problems?

2 comments

2 Comments

alicecooper27d ago

So you really think Python set your brain on fire that much? If you had gone JavaScript first you would've learned the event loop early, which honestly matters more in real projects than JSON wrangling. Your habit tracker probably would've shipped faster too, since you could just throw it on a static page without a backend. Python made you comfortable with slow, thoughtful code, but JS forces you to think about timing and callbacks from day one. Different lens for every problem after that. Sounds like you dodged a bullet making the wrong call.

alicecooper28d ago

Damn, two weeks fighting JSON parsing and you still wonder if Python was the wrong call?