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JavaScript vs Lua: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this article, we will discuss the key differences between JavaScript and Lua. Both JavaScript and Lua are popular programming languages that are used for different purposes. Understanding these differences can help developers choose the right language for their specific needs.

  1. Syntax: One of the main differences between JavaScript and Lua is their syntax. JavaScript uses a C-like syntax, with curly braces and semicolons to separate statements, while Lua uses a more minimalistic syntax with end keywords to close blocks of code. JavaScript also has more complex syntax with features like object-oriented programming and prototype-based inheritance, whereas Lua has a simpler syntax.

  2. Application: JavaScript is mainly used for web development, providing interactivity and dynamic content to websites. On the other hand, Lua is often used as an embedded scripting language, particularly in game development. It is widely used in game engines, such as the popular game engine, Unity.

  3. Platform Compatibility: JavaScript is supported by all major web browsers, making it a cross-platform language that can run on different operating systems. Lua, however, requires an interpreter or virtual machine to run, and its compatibility may depend on the specific implementation or platform.

  4. Standard Libraries: JavaScript has a rich set of built-in libraries and frameworks, making it easier to develop web applications. It also has a large community of developers contributing to open-source libraries and frameworks. Lua, on the other hand, has a smaller standard library and fewer third-party libraries available. This may require developers to write more code from scratch or rely on custom libraries.

  5. Concurrency: JavaScript supports asynchronous programming through features like callbacks, promises, and async/await, allowing developers to handle concurrent tasks efficiently. Lua, on the other hand, does not have built-in support for asynchronous programming. While it is possible to implement concurrency patterns in Lua, it may require more manual effort and external libraries.

  6. Usage: JavaScript is widely used for front-end and back-end web development, including tasks like user interface interactions, server-side scripts, and data manipulation. On the other hand, Lua is primarily used as a scripting language in game development and embedded systems, where performance and flexibility are essential.

In summary, JavaScript is a versatile language that is widely used for web development, while Lua is commonly used as an embedded scripting language, particularly in game development. Their syntax, application, platform compatibility, availability of libraries, concurrency support, and usage differ significantly, making them suitable for different programming scenarios.

Advice on JavaScript and Lua
Needs advice
on
JavaJavaJavaScriptJavaScript
and
PHPPHP

Hi there. I'm looking to build an employee time tracker web app. This should also be optimized for mobile. I'm trying to figure out what the best stack is for this. I have knowledge of Java, JavaScript, some C#. I don't mind learning a new language for this purpose. Any help or advice would be really awesome! Thanks.

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Replies (6)
Stephen Gheysens
Lead Solutions Engineer at Inscribe · | 14 upvotes · 1.8M views
Recommends
on
JavaScriptJavaScript

Hi Otensia! I'd definitely recommend using the skills you've already got and building with JavaScript is a smart way to go these days. Most platform services have JavaScript/Node SDKs or NPM packages, many serverless platforms support Node in case you need to write any backend logic, and JavaScript is incredibly popular - meaning it will be easy to hire for, should you ever need to.

My advice would be "don't reinvent the wheel". If you already have a skill set that will work well to solve the problem at hand, and you don't need it for any other projects, don't spend the time jumping into a new language. If you're looking for an excuse to learn something new, it would be better to invest that time in learning a new platform/tool that compliments your knowledge of JavaScript. For this project, I might recommend using Netlify, Vercel, or Google Firebase to quickly and easily deploy your web app. If you need to add user authentication, there are great examples out there for Firebase Authentication, Auth0, or even Magic (a newcomer on the Auth scene, but very user friendly). All of these services work very well with a JavaScript-based application.

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Recommends
on
JavaScriptJavaScript

As you have knowledge of Javascript, I would go towards Vue/React in Frontend and Node (with suitable framework) with backend. From my point of view Java would be too bloated for suggested kind of an app. I myself use PHP as a backend a lot and React as frontend but moving thoughts towards full stack javascript world.

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Recommends
on
JavaScriptJavaScriptPHPPHP

php is the best for beginners, and one of the best for web development at all, all the host servers can handle it, a basic knowledge in java is not enough for build a web site, but a basic knowledge in php is enough. learn php basics and oop and mvc design pattern or any framework like Laravel (optional), and javascript for frontend (a framework like React or Angular is optional but good) and you will build any web site you want.

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pramod shirsath
Founder at Supra Software Solutions · | 4 upvotes · 239.2K views

We migrated from PHP to Angular/PHP to Angular/Node to React/Node/AWS Lambda. React/Node(Typescript)/Lambda seems to be good so far as we have developed few applications (large and small) using this stack so far. React/Node/Lambda is also good for mobile. If you are planning to use AWS, you can use the S3 bucket to store the frontend and Lambda or EC2 for backend APIs.

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pramod shirsath
Founder at Supra Software Solutions · | 2 upvotes · 239.3K views
Recommends

We migrated from PHP to Angular/PHP to Angular/Node to React/Node/AWS Lambda. React/Node(Typescript)/Lambda seems to be good so far as we have developed few applications (large and small) using this stack so far. React/Node/Lambda is also good for mobile. If you are planning to use AWS, you can use the S3 bucket to store the frontend and Lambda or EC2 for backend APIs.

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Brandon Miller
Recommends

For just a time tracker app? I'd recommend going with a cloud-based approach. A couple serverless functions in whatever language you choose, and the front end can be a static website hosted inside a storage service (blob for Azure, bucket for AWS, etc). This will ultimately probably save you a little time, and them a little money on hosting.

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Needs advice
on
C#C#JavaScriptJavaScript
and
ReactReact

Hi Everyone,

I have some experience working with JavaScript and React and will now try to learn C# - could you please share some similarities and differences between JS and C# and what rookie mistakes I should watch out for when learning C#?

Also, any tips & good practices are greatly appreciated :)

Thank you

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Replies (4)
Pavel Kalugin
Software Engineer at Paralect · | 9 upvotes · 213.4K views

If you want to learn C# to write some backend code you can also check out Node.js which is basically JavaScript running outside the browser. You can create any kind of web servers, APIs, scrapers, automation scripts, etc using all the same JavaScript.

A good entry to Node is Express.js. It is the most common web framework for Node. It's well documented and there are a lot of educational materials for it.

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Hameed Moshood
Recommends
on
C#C#

C# is .net framework of a programming language specially different from the programming languages you're used to. If you learn C# you will be experienceed in coding with VIsual Basic .net and also creating web development using ASP and this ASP also include JavaScript function.... I urge you to learn it

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Kudos Beluga
Recommends
on
F#F#Node.jsNode.js

I prefer functional programming because it produces less buggy code (thus I recommend F#), and is simply better to learn this paradigm earlier on in your coding career rather than later. It can also do most stuff C# can do, namely code with .NET core. If you're going to learn .NET then you should learn Node.js+Express first though before doing web development with C#/F#

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Ross M.
System Architect at MomentFactory · | 2 upvotes · 195.4K views
Recommends
on
C#C#JavaScriptJavaScript

I think you can manage to find something about this topic. it's pretty popular one. ex: https://www.educba.com/c-sharp-vs-js/

Something I don't see discussed enough over the internet is the performance difference. I don't think you should worry about this. 95% of the time you won't notice the difference on your day to day projets. You will know what you need in terms of performance when you get there.

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Needs advice
on
C++C++JavaScriptJavaScript
and
PythonPython

Hi, I'm just starting to learn code, and I stumbled upon this website. I think I should learn JavaScript, Python, and C++ to begin with. I'm a quick learner so I am only worried about what would be more useful. Suppose my goal is to build an online clothing store or something. Then what languages would be best? I need advice. Please help me out. I'm 13 and just beginning and it's hard to understand when people use technical terms so please keep it simple. Thanks a lot.

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Replies (8)
Taimoor Mirza
Associate Software Engineer at Intech Process Automation · | 21 upvotes · 249K views
Recommends
on
PythonPython

Go with Python. It's syntax is really simple and less verbose compare to others. You can use Python for basically anything like web dev, task automation, data science, data engineering, cybersecurity etc. At initial level, it's more important to get an understanding of programming fundamentals. Once you get conformable with coding in general, then you can explore other languages.

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I would worry less about languages when you're first starting out. If you want to build an online store, then javascript is a great language that is used all over the web! Get comfortable with your first language, learn some computer science concepts and how to build things the right way, and then just work towards a goal and learn as you go!

https://www.w3schools.com/ is a great resource and it's completely free, everything you need to know to build a website is on that page if you have the drive to learn it. Best of luck to you!

Here's a neat roadmap too, in case you find yourself lost on what to learn next https://roadmap.sh/frontend

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Recommends
on
JavaScriptJavaScript

I recommend JavaScript to build your first website, for both FrontEnd and BackEnd , even tho I am a BIG fan of C++ it is not well suited yet to create websites, and Python would be just as good for the BackEnd as JavaScript but having everything written in only one language will make your learning curve way easier, so it is easy to recommend JavaScript.

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Mukesh Gurpude
Recommends
on
JavaScriptJavaScriptPythonPython

Python is an easy and beginner-friendly language. As you've mentioned about Online Clothing store, you'll need to deal with the website part and you'll need Javascript to make the site accessible and functional. Javascript will be more easy to learn if you learn Python first, so you can just start with Python.

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Recommends
on
FlaskFlaskPythonPython

Hello Rachel, as a fellow programmer, I am glad that you are planning on expanding your coding knowledge and skills.

I recommend learning python first as it has a very simple syntax (syntax is how your code looks and how simple it is to type) and is also very user-friendly. Once you get to know how to code in python, you can use this thing called Flask.

Flask is what you call a "web application framework" or a WAF, it basically is a tool used to develop websites and other similar things. You don't have to worry much about it's difficulty because it is based on python. You will still have to learn how to use Flask though as it could be a bit complicating in first glance.

If you are looking for simpler ways for making website without having to learn a lot of programming, you can learn HTML and CSS. These 2 will help you in making a basic and functional website. The catch is, from a career perspective, HTML won't get you far, as literally every programmer knows it. So it is best to use programming languages.

I hope this gave you a clear understanding of the ways in which you can build websites. Wishing you the best of luck!

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Recommends
on
JavaScriptJavaScript

I have worked with all these a ton. I make ecommerce and enterprise apps now. The only one of these you need is JavaScript. You can use JS on the backend as Node.js in AWS Lambda. You will need HTML and CSS skills, as well as a database. I recommend MongoDB. Please forget about C++ until you built your first company. Python fits the same purpose as Node.js but is currently popular in the Data Science community so skip it until you have a LOT of customers.

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John Akhilomen
Recommends
on
JavaScriptJavaScriptPythonPython

Since you're new, I'd recommend Javascript and Python. With Javascript, just learn React and Node. And with Python, learn Django. With JavaScript, Node, React, Python, and Django; you can accomplish quite a lot for both frontend and backend.

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Recommends
on
WordPressWordPress

Hi, When saying that "Suppose my goal is to build an online clothing store or something", I would go for a ready to use platform like Wordpress. it will give you a fast jump into the online world. By using WP you'll have to catch on with PHP\JQuery Goodluck.. Ping me when store is ready, I might buy something....

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Needs advice
on
JavaScriptJavaScriptReactReact
and
SwiftSwift

Hey guys, I learned the basics (OOP, data structures & some algorithms) with Python, but now I want to learn iOS development. I am considering to learn Swift, but I am afraid how the native mobile development will die out because of the cross-platform frameworks and reviews. My idea is to learn web development first and then learn React Native, and after all of that, finally Swift. What do you think about this roadmap? Should I just learn Swift first due to the pros of the native apps?

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Replies (7)
Recommends
on
SwiftSwift

Native apps are not going to die. Especially not Swift because now Swift can be used to develop cross platform macOS and iOS apps due to the new macs having M1 chips.

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Recommends
on
SwiftSwift

I would suggest to bet more on Swift! I have developed act in React and Javascript in the past and played around with Swift a little... the performances of native code vs Javascript are way too slow compared to swift native app!

Now even more than ever M1 chip will give a boost, but if it gives a boost to JS it will give a boost also to native apps. I would seriously consider Swift more than Javascript, React or even Electron!

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Recommends
on
SwiftSwift

If asking about employment opportunities, native will never die out. There will always be opportunity for work in native mobile applications. There are also many advantages of using native over cross platform such as always having access to the latest APIs and developer libraries that may not be available to cross-platform without some native development involved or can wait until someone develops a bridge for you.

If you are asking about what you should develop with first? It really depends. React-Native is great for building proto-types or basic MVP application that doesn't require any of the latest and greatest features Apple has to offer at the moment. But if you're asking what to learn? I would say native will always give you a larger advantage as it will give you a good foundation in mobile development and provide you access to the latest native libraries. It is also a useful skill that can give you an edge in cross-platform mobile like react-native because you will most definitely encounter a situation where you will have to go down to the to native side to extend functionality or utilize APIs that are not yet out of the box.

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Noel Broda
Founder, CEO, CTO at NoFilter · | 4 upvotes · 82.5K views

"Should I just learn Swift first due to the pros of the native apps?". React Native builds Native Apps. Technologies like ionic does NOT build native apps, but React Native does it.

Learning Swift seems to be a really bad idea from my point of view. Learning JavaScript is all what you need. Why? Because then Frontend, Backend, and Mobile Dev, is simple, because it's all JavaScript.

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The decision comes down to your goals and needs.

If you want to be able to create any kind of iOS app, simple or complex, learn Swift. It's indispensable if you're building specialised apps like video editing, augmented reality, machine learning or anything that uses iOS-specific APIs such as App Clips.

But if you just want to create apps that make HTTP requests and display static content such as text or basic video and music, React Native would do just fine, and you can publish the same code to Android. This is a no-brainer choice if you're on a low budget.

And if you know both, you can use both in the same app. You can add React Native screens or components inside a Swift app.

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Carlos Iglesias
Recommends

Mobile Native Development Apps will never die. Cross Plataform like React Native only exists to save time and costs for startups mainly, which is extraordinary, and indispensable often of course. But when the App get popular enough, it will probably will move to Native Development. Several improvements.

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Recommends
on
JavaScriptJavaScriptReactReact

Less than 20% of the market is IOS, the rest is Android. Any developer must produce for Android and maybe support IOS. If you prototype on IOS you have to restart again for Android. React and JavaScript will run on IOS.

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Needs advice
on
JavaJavaJavaScriptJavaScript
and
PythonPython

I am new to programming and am a university student. While Computer Science is not my area of study, I am majoring in a subject that branches off computer science and health informatics, which deals with databases. I am currently in a programming fundamentals course at my university. My instructor mentioned that he develops in Java, but I have heard many good things about Python and JavaScript before taking his course; while we are only doing the fundamentals, I believe he is teaching us some in Java.

Since I am new to this, I'm not sure what I like more. I have also been self-teaching before this course but have not gotten deep into a particular language's fundamentals. I want to decide on a language and stick to it before I move to a new one after the first language is learned, but it is difficult deciding which language to start with. I want to develop medical software and medical mobile apps.

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Replies (10)
Dimelo Waterson
Recommends
on
JavaJava

There's a reason many universities start with Java- it has strict rules and lays out code in a straightforward (if excessively-boiler-plate-heavy) way. For a beginner, Java is an excellent way to learn the fundamentals of programming before taking off the training wheels and continuing in more flexible, less-syntactically-rigorous direction like Python or JavaScript.

Sticking to a language before moving on is a common goal. However, in reality you are going to transition as you find languages that better suit you or your organization's requirements. Start with Java, not because it is optimal for your end goals, but because it will teach you what you like and dislike about programming and because your instructor is more familiar with it. That will give you a valuable perspective and allow you to make a more informed decision later.

There are many ways to solve problems in different languages, but the "best" language pragmatically is the one that you feel most comfortable using. In that respect, programming is like woodworking- you want to let the tool do the work. If there is another language that is "better" objectively but more difficult or confusing to you, you will counteract the anticipated benefits by having to struggle to write code.

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Recommends
on
JavaJava

The only way to solve this problem while avoiding opinions and tastes is to objectively look at what you are trying to build.

Thus the most efficient part of your question is your last sentence: you want to build medical software and medical mobile apps.

In that case, the answer is definitely Java, as is for all "real" software projects.

Python is good for data science, in other words for statistics. Its other competitive advantage is that it is easy to learn for beginners, but that would be a bad reason to use it for a "real" software project.

JavaScript is a mess you don't want to get into. The major reason why it's popular is that many people learn it first, because its very basic features are easy to learn, although they don't get you far, and because it used to have exclusivity on the web. But in reality it will make your life a lot harder after a few weeks, without any benefit. I know I'll get criticisms for that, but I stand fully by this position.

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Recommends
on
PythonPython

try with python because easy ... its good for u when u are learning basic's and they have many library that help's u with mobile app and desktop application but it is not the best ... when u are learn programming will with python then start with js basic's and then (react native) or flutter and also u can use java for mobile development bur i recommend first choices ..and for Desktop application java is have an amazing library (java fx ) for this type of application's and C# is one of most powerful language's for software development . good luck

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Taimoor Mirza
Associate Software Engineer at Intech Process Automation · | 4 upvotes · 203.6K views
Recommends
on
JavaJavaPythonPython

Since you're already taking a CS course which involves Java, I would recommend you to keep learning it. Java's statically typed & OO nature forces you to learn a lot of important yet common programming fundamentles. C++, C# and Java type languages also force you write code more carefully (you have to think about the data types on your own and even allocate/de-allocate memories [C++ pointers]). That's why colleges prefer it as go to language for teaching CS concepts.

On the other hand, JS, Python and other such languages are dynamic in nature and hence, easy to learn. But you can't learn certain concepts (polymorphism, abstract classes, diamond problem etc) using these languages. So it makes sense to stick with Java in your case.

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Recommends
on
JavaJava

Since your instructor is using Java, i'd start with Java. If you want to get into mobile development, I'd check out flutter / dart. Good luck!

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My advice to anyone learning to program is to not obsess on the language.. You SHOULD learn all languages.. Same as learning human spoken languages - the more you learn, the more ways your mind can interpret a new problem set. Learning them at the same time isn't a big deal (just like growing up in a bilingual home). Your language and your software stack are guaranteed to change 3 times in your career. Don't assume you're going to choose the "right one". And you wont waste any time learning one you never wind up using.

As a person who works on linux and OSX desktops, I have a personal bias against working for companies and software stacks that require C# or Visual Studio. But this is not due to their technical merits, but instead the OS as a platform condusive to efficient CLI toolchains and container management. But aside from that, I can use vi/IntelliJ-suite to write most languages, so language isn't a real concern. If you're windows bound, pretty much everything is available to you (through VMs and docker).

Ideally you do at least SOME full stack development learning. This means you'll need javascript, and thus nodejs would be a good stack to learn. If you ultimately like gaming or 3D, you might need C# and certainly python.

Any AI (which is a hot employment topic for the forseeable future) would like python skillz.

I personally love Java (and Android's Kotlin varient) for it's very very well designed multi-threaded libraries. go and rust are newer and thus do a slightly better job at this, but due to the open-source nature of java and editors that auto-reveal function call source code, it's very easy to learn how vendors implemented MT code and various other algorithms. Python should be equally "open" to 3rd party library review (and thus again how they solve complex problems), though a lot of times, I see python resorting to compiled C-libraries (and thus the cost to crack open the code and or trace through the code becomes too burdensome to bother).

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Recommends
on
JavaJavaPythonPython

While I've seen many people recommend Java (and I agree with them), I think you can learn both. But it depends on how much time you got. I recommend you first learn Java. Then python will be easy to learn, and focus mainly on modules for graphs. The reason why I recommend to learn both is because python is much better and easier to code about statistical analysis. But again do this only if you have time to just learn them.

If your project doesn't have anything to do with statistics and data analysis (I'm pretty sure you do though), learn only java. Also if you are wondering why I never mentioned JavaScript (JS), it's because i really don't recommend it. JS is much harder to learn and requires a lot of lines of code to do simple things.

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Srikanth Gopalakrishnan
Founder at TheDatingClub · | 2 upvotes · 206.2K views
Recommends
on
JavaJavaPythonPython

Although java seems to be a good fit for you. It is a cumbersome language to get started out. It will be far easier for you to learn Python and stick with it long term. This is due to the fact you will be easily able to google things for python and you will spend less time learning the language, and more time using it to do what you want.

Making mobile apps is easier with Java due to the fact that google does not directly support app building with python. If this is your biggest priority stick with Java.

Javascript: This language is the best language to learn if you are making a website. However, for easy of use you can do all the database access stuff with python. And send back the data to your website. Javascript is also another cumbersome language in my opinion.

Each language has its use. If I were In your situation, I would choose the language that's easy to start with.

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There is always trade off between them. If you want to make mobile app JavaScript is better. I suggest start the one you feel more close and learn all of them :) You are quite young you have enough time for them.

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Recommends
on
JavaJava

It would be great if you first go with Java. It could give you complete understanding of programming concepts. Such as data types. Later you can move to Python , which is great for data processing and Machin learning stuff.

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Needs advice
on
Java EEJava EE
and
JavaScriptJavaScript

Hi, I'm looking to learn Java EE and JavaScript.... but confused about exactly the difference between J2EE and JavaScript.....are both interconnected or different??? And if I want to learn both, should I learn JavaScript first and then touch J2EE or learn J2EE first and then JavaScript??.... please suggest

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Replies (2)
Joshua H
Recommends
on
Java EEJava EEJavaScriptJavaScript

They have nothing in common except the name Java. J2EE is the enterprise edition of Java and JavaScript is a web-based programming language without typing etc. There are a lot of differences between them and they serve very different purposes. If you want to get into web development learn JS, if you want to get into e.g. android development go for Java.

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Recommends
on
Java EEJava EE

Java EE is an Enterprise environment based on the Java language. Javascript is a language originally developed for use in web browsers. Javascript and Java are not the same language. Not even close. They share no history. All they have in common is the first four letters of there name. You can use Javascript as part of the web ui for a Java EE application, but in that case the Javascript files are just payload to the Java EE application, on a par with a plain HTML file. They get sent to the user's browser, which is where the Javascript would execute.

If you really only want to learn the one language and don't need the Enterprise features of Java EE then consider Node.js, which uses Javascript on both the server and the client. I've not used that myself, however.

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Needs advice
on
JavaScriptJavaScriptPythonPython
and
RustRust

So, I've been working with all 3 languages JavaScript, Python and Rust, I know that all of these languages are important in their own domain but, I haven't took any of it to the point where i could say I'm a pro at any of these languages. I learned JS and Python out of my own excitement, I learned rust for some IoT based projects. just confused which one i should invest my time in first... that does have Job and freelance potential in market as well...

I am an undergraduate in computer science. (3rd Year)

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Replies (3)
Recommends
on
JavaScriptJavaScript

I would start focusing on Javascript because even working with Rust and Python, you're always going to encounter some Javascript for front-ends at least. It has: - more freelancing opportunities (starting to work short after a virus/crisis, that's gonna help) - can also do back-end if needed (I would personally avoid specializing in this since there's better languages for the back-end part) - hard to avoid. it's everywhere and not going away (well not yet)

Then, later, for back-end programming languages, Rust seems like your best bet. Its pros: - it's satisfying to work with (after the learning curve) - it's got potential to grow big in the next year (also with better paying jobs) - it's super versatile (you can do high-perf system stuff, graphics, ffi, as well as your classic api server) It comes with a few cons though: - it's harder to learn (expect to put in years) - the freelancing options are virtually non-existent (and I would expect them to stay limited, as rust is better for long-term software than prototypes)

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Recommends
on
JavaScriptJavaScript

I suggest you to go with JavaScript. From my perspective JavaScript is the language you should invest your time in. The community of javascript and lots of framework helps developer to build what they want to build in no time whether it a desktop, web, mobile based application or even you can use javascript as a backend as well. There are lot of frameworks you can start learning i suggest you to go with (react,vue) library both are easy to learn than angular which is a complete framework.

And if you want to go with python as a secondary tool then i suggest you to learn a python framework (Flask,Django).

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Moinul Moin
Recommends
on
JavaScriptJavaScript

go for javascript, brother.

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Needs advice
on
JavaJavaLuaLua
and
PythonPython

I am trying to make Roblox game which requires Lua. I quite don't want to go with Lua just because other tools just might let me do more projects later on. I heard that Python is most similar to Lua, but I am still not sure which tool to use. Java, I think it will help me with many stuff later on for websites, projects, and more!

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Replies (2)
Rafey Iqbal Rahman
Recommends
on
LuaLua
at

Since you are trying to make a Roblox game, you have no other option than to use Lua, since Roblox only allows coding in Lua. Yes, you've heard right, Python is identical and as easy as Lua, although Lua is easier than Python. Beginning from Lua and then escalating to Python is recommended. Java is only helpful when you are creating a heavy, big-budget, enterprise-level product, otherwise, Python would suffice.

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Recommends
on
TypeScriptTypeScript

If you really hate lua check out roblox-ts, a tool that compiles typescript code into roblox lua. https://github.com/roblox-ts/roblox-ts

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Needs advice
on
DartDartDjangoDjango
and
JavaScriptJavaScript

I am currently learning web development with Python and JavaScript course by CS50 Harvard university. It covers python, Flask, Django, SQL, Travis CI, javascript,HTML ,CSS and more. I am very interested in Flutter app development. Can I know what is the difference between learning these above-mentioned frameworks vs learning flutter directly? I am planning to learn flutter so that I can do both web development and app development. Are there any perks of learning these frameworks before flutter?

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Replies (5)
Gagan Jakhotiya
Engineering Manager at BigBasket · | 11 upvotes · 233.5K views
Recommends
on
Node.jsNode.js

Hey Muhamed, For web development, you'll have to learn how to write backend APIs and how to build UI for browsers, apps, etc. If you're just starting off with programming, I'd suggest you stick to one language and trying developing everything using it to cut the unnecessary learning overhead. Although Python and JavaScript are very similar for beginners, JavaScript is the only available option for both frontend and backend development for a web application. You can start working with Node.js for your API development and Vanilla JS along with HTML/CSS for UI. You'll only need to learn one language to do all of this. Hope this helps.

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Dennis Barzanoff
Recommends
on
DartDart

Flutter is good for everything and it is getting better as I am speaking. Flutter Web is almost ready for production and I have made 2 complex working websites already.

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Yohnathan Carletti
Senior Technical Product Manager · | 3 upvotes · 227.5K views
Recommends
on
DartDart

From a management and hiring perspective, I recommend Flutter (Dart). It provides native solutions to both mobile platform ( (Android and IOS) while having the same knowledge. Hiring managers look at this as an advantage since a developer can provide solutions for both platforms whit the same knowledge. The Flutter framework is growing and there is a lot of resources to ground your knowledge and start experimenting. Dart is also a great language that covers most E2E necessities, so again, no further need of learning one language for FE and another for BE and services. It is my belief that Dart will surpass Kotlin soon, and will leverage to Python and Java in the upcoming year.

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Recommends
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DartDart

Well. Flutter is just a Framework (just like Django btw.) and it uses Dart as a programming language. Django is kind of solving a different problem than Dart. Dart is intened for use in Front End Applications and Django is a Framework for Back-End Web Development.

So if you want to program Flutter Apps (although i wouldn't recommend it for any serious web development yet since Flutter web isn't very mature yet) i would recommend you just lern Dart.

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on
DartDart

If you are interested in Flutter, learn it on your own time, parallel to the course. No matter what order you do them, eventually you will end up learning them all anyway ;-)

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Needs advice
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GolangGolangJavaScriptJavaScript
and
PythonPython

We are converting AWS Lambdas from Java due to excessive cold start times. Usage: These lambdas handle XML and JSON payloads, they use s3, API Gateway, RDS, DynamoDB, and external API's. Most of our developers are only experienced in java. These three languages (Go, Node.js, and Python) were discussed, but no consensus has been reached yet.

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Replies (5)
Jordan Gregory
Cloud Operations Manager at Plainsight AI · | 4 upvotes · 422.6K views
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GolangGolang

I've worked with all three of these languages and also with Java developers converting to these languages and far and away Go is the easier one to convert to. With the improved cold-start times and the ease of conversion for a Java developer, it is a no-brainer for me.

The hardest part of the conversion though is going to be the lack of traditional Classes so you have to be mindful of that, but Go Structs and interfaces tend to make up for what is lost there.

Full Disclosure: I'm a 95% Go convert (from Python) at this point in time.

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Ahmet Yildirim
Software Engineering Consultant at UXCraft Sweden AB · | 3 upvotes · 422.6K views
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on
GolangGolang

Although I am primarily a Javascript developer myself, I used Go to build AWS lambda in a similar scenario to yours. AWS libraries felt better integrated on the Go side, I believe due to the language itself (e.g. how JSON objects are handled in go). Besides that performance of Go is much superior. But on the cons side; community is far smaller around Go, compared to Javascript. That is easy notice if you look at repos of community-maintained libraries for Go. That can feel a bit unreliable.

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Jason Scheirer
Senior Software Engineer at EasyPost · | 2 upvotes · 422.2K views
Recommends
on
GolangGolang

Go would provide the easiest transition for Java programmers -- its IDE/tooling is second to none (just install Goland) and the deploy/distribution story is extremely clean and lends itself to work well in lambda: single, static binaries with quick startup. No need to set up a full environment or package dependencies on your lambda AMIs, just copy a file.

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Russel Werner
Lead Engineer at StackShare · | 1 upvotes · 422.1K views
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JavaScriptJavaScript
at

If you want to prioritise language familiarity, JavaScript is more like Java than the other choices; and it can be optimised to run very fast. However if you need really fast cold-start times, you can't beat Go since it's compiled. There are other things to consider, such as the massive amount of community packages and help/documentation in the JavaScript ecosystem. Go is newer but seems to be quite popular if you need something that runs fast in a single binary.

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Paul Whittemore
Developer and Owner at Appurist Software · | 1 upvotes · 422.2K views
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GolangGolang

I was initially going to suggest JavaScript due to the smaller size needs of AWS Lambdas code and the larger range of libraries and community available (and to avoid Python for this). But I have to agree with the recommendations and rationale of @ayildirim above and I think you should choose any reasonable language that is low-overhead, fast startup, and best supported by AWS Lambda, and that is probably Go. I don't think you are likely to go wrong with that, while you can potentially with the others.

So I'd agree, on the strength of AWS Lambda support and the solid performance of Go, it seems like your best choice here for Lambdas (and I'm going to need to consider that myself going forward... pardon the pun).

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Decisions about JavaScript and Lua
Leonardo Henrique da Paixão
Junior QA Tester at SolarMarket · | 11 upvotes · 112.8K views

Simple Customer Registration Crud, with the functions of Register, Delete, Edit and List new and old customers registered in the Database. PostgreSQL was used as DBMS, due to its easy use and practicality.

Crud de Cadastro a Clientes simples, com as funções de Registrar, Deletar, Editar e Listar novos e antigos clientes cadastrado no Banco de Dados. Foi utilizado como SGBD o PostgreSQL, pelo seu facil uso e praticidade.

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  • Client-Side: \ The form of our product is a web app because we would also provide a dashboard for displaying data and for some further purpose including data filtering and comparison. Hence, we would definitely use HTML5 for structuring the web, CSS3 for styling the web, and JavaScript for building the front-end logic. As for frameworks, we would use React because it is component-based that can keep our front-end code clean and organized. The virtual DOM of React also provides better efficiency in time when rendering the page. Furthermore, React has a greater number of users than Vue and Angular, thus have active communities for problem-spotting and problem-solving. We would also incorporate Bootstrap into our web app to provide an aesthetic user interface and thus to improve the user experience. The fact that Boostrap supports responsive site would also ease our workload if future adaptation for mobiles is needed.
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A major part of our project includes visualizing the data through graphs and charts. We chose to use d3.js since it provides a wide selection of well-designed graphics and animations. As a library, it is also easy to use and be included in our UI. JavaScript which our team has experience with was also selected to integrate graphics from d3.js into the UI, as well as to integrate the UI with the backend system. Along with JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS 3 are also selected mostly for styling and formatting the webpage. These three languages are widely used which means that more support will be available, making the implementation process easier.

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Labib Chowdhury
Student at University of Toronto · | 5 upvotes · 114.7K views

The key to our product relies on explainability and user experience when using our product. With this is mind, it is important to build a clean, readable web interface that a user will be able to navigate easily and quickly debug their security issues. The stack chosen for the interface of our product includes: JavaScript + React, CSS, HTML, Material UI and D3.js.

React provides us with simplicity to allow us to deliver the MVP as soon as possible. React also has multiple open source libraries to ease our development. Being able to reuse React components will help in developing the product fast as well as making the user interface modular. Since we're using React, we will also be using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS to create the frontend.

To design the UI, using a minimal approach would be the best solution. The Material UI library provides us with minimal and aesthetically pleasing React Components which would make our frontend look pleasing to the user.

Finally, our UI will consist of displaying information from our Machine Learning model in a dashboard type view. To display data in tasteful manner, we have chosen to use the D3.js library. This library is the most popular data visualization library for React with over 80k stars on Github. D3 also provides seamless compatibility with React and has a variety of features which would make the data we produce visually pleasing.

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Backend:

Python is a great industry standard language that can easily handle both machine learning and web development tasks. Our dev team is very familiar with the language and has used it in various web and Machine learning projects. Python has many versatile ML specific libraries that include TensorFlow, Pytorch, Pycaret, and Keras. It also has packages for data manipulations and visualization like Numpy, Pandas, and Matplotlib. Since our software requires machine learning algorithms, big data processing and a backend server, Python seemed like the way to go.

Our team decided to go distributed databases (NoSQL) over a relational database (SQL) because of the NoSQL dynamic schemas for unstructured data. We are using MongoDB as our NoSQL database due to its simplicity, schema less documentation, deep/fast querying ability, user data management, big data, JSON style documents, and great scaling out. We also chose MongoDB due to its horizontal scaling as a NoSQL database.

Since we are using python as our backend programming language, we decided to use Flask as our web framework. Flask is a micro and lightweight web framework that provides the required functionality to efficiently develop our web server. Flask has a great community with many online resources and provides more flexibility in terms of customization when compared to other frameworks like Django. While Django is great for large scale applications, it does not work well with NoSQL databases.

Frontend:

For our front end framework, we decided to go with React due to its component based structures, flexibility, scalability, and high performance. React has a strong community and is trusted by top companies such as Facebook, Netflix, and Paypal. We can also easily transition our react app to a react native or electron app. We will also be using material-ui framework alongside react for that crisp google material design!

Node.js will be used for development purposes for the front end only. Once we deploy for production, the react frontend will be served from the flask web server and will not require Node.js. This separates the frontend and backend during development, making it easier to work with.

Javascript is one of the most widely used languages for front end development and we will be using it alongside React to develop our user interface. Our dev team is familiar with it through previous web projects. Given how popular it is, its community is very active for any problems that come up and is easy to hire for in the future.

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Nathan De Pachtere
Fullstack Developer at Alpsify · | 8 upvotes · 96.2K views
Shared insights
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CSS 3CSS 3HTML5HTML5JavaScriptJavaScript
at

Am I the only one to think that libraries like Bootstrap, Vuetify, Materialize, Foundation are too much sometimes ?

Most of the time you are loading all the library and using 10% of it. And on that 10% you are modifying 90% of it.

I feel like using grid and pure CSS / JS are enough and cleaner.

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Lucas Litton
Founder & CEO at Macombey · | 8 upvotes · 262.8K views

JavaScript is at the forefront of our entire development approach. Not only do we use different JavaScript frameworks and management tools, but we also use pure vanilla JavaScript to solve simple problems throughout all of our client's builds. JavaScript is a general purpose programming language that can be blazing fast and fun to work with. There's not one project we are working on that doesn't involve it.

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William Artero
Senior Platform Engineer at ABN AMRO · | 6 upvotes · 391.3K views

Telegram Messenger has frameworks for most known languages, which makes easier for anyone to integrate with them. I started with Golang and soon found that those frameworks are not up to date, not to mention my experience testing on Golang is also mixed due to how their testing tool works. The natural runner-up was JS, which I'm ditching in favor of TS to make a strongly typed code, proper tests and documentation for broader usage. TypeScript allows fast prototyping and can prevent problems during code phase, given that your IDE of choice has support for a language server, and build phase. Pairing it with lint tools also allows honing code before it even hits the repositories.

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Andrew Carpenter
Chief Software Architect at Xelex Digital, LLC · | 16 upvotes · 425.9K views

In 2015 as Xelex Digital was paving a new technology path, moving from ASP.NET web services and web applications, we knew that we wanted to move to a more modular decoupled base of applications centered around REST APIs.

To that end we spent several months studying API design patterns and decided to use our own adaptation of CRUD, specifically a SCRUD pattern that elevates query params to a more central role via the Search action.

Once we nailed down the API design pattern it was time to decide what language(s) our new APIs would be built upon. Our team has always been driven by the right tool for the job rather than what we know best. That said, in balancing practicality we chose to focus on 3 options that our team had deep experience with and knew the pros and cons of.

For us it came down to C#, JavaScript, and Ruby. At the time we owned our infrastructure, racks in cages, that were all loaded with Windows. We were also at a point that we were using that infrastructure to it's fullest and could not afford additional servers running Linux. That's a long way of saying we decided against Ruby as it doesn't play nice on Windows.

That left us with two options. We went a very unconventional route for deciding between the two. We built MVP APIs on both. The interfaces were identical and interchangeable. What we found was easily quantifiable differences.

We were able to iterate on our Node based APIs much more rapidly than we were our C# APIs. For us this was owed to the community coupled with the extremely dynamic nature of JS. There were tradeoffs we considered, latency was (acceptably) higher on requests to our Node APIs. No strong types to protect us from ourselves, but we've rarely found that to be an issue.

As such we decided to commit resources to our Node APIs and push it out as the core brain of our new system. We haven't looked back since. It has consistently met our needs, scaling with us, getting better with time as continually pour into and expand our capabilities.

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Aleksandr Filatov
Contract Software Engineer - Microsoft · | 3 upvotes · 213.5K views
How to make your JS code faster just adding some parenthesis?

Optimize-js I will not describe this tool a lot here, because it's already good done by author on github

I just want to mention that this tool wrap up all immediately-invoked functions or likely-to-be-invoked functions in parentheses what is do a great optimization a JavaScript file for faster initial execution and parsing (based on my experience).

The performance of application where I've introduced optimize-js improved on 20% in a common (tested in Chrome and IE11).

Why it happens?

Is it maintaining now? - Unfortunately, no (but feel free to send PR)

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Pros of JavaScript
Pros of Lua
  • 1.7K
    Can be used on frontend/backend
  • 1.5K
    It's everywhere
  • 1.2K
    Lots of great frameworks
  • 898
    Fast
  • 745
    Light weight
  • 425
    Flexible
  • 392
    You can't get a device today that doesn't run js
  • 286
    Non-blocking i/o
  • 237
    Ubiquitousness
  • 191
    Expressive
  • 55
    Extended functionality to web pages
  • 49
    Relatively easy language
  • 46
    Executed on the client side
  • 30
    Relatively fast to the end user
  • 25
    Pure Javascript
  • 21
    Functional programming
  • 15
    Async
  • 13
    Full-stack
  • 12
    Setup is easy
  • 12
    Future Language of The Web
  • 12
    Its everywhere
  • 11
    Because I love functions
  • 11
    JavaScript is the New PHP
  • 10
    Like it or not, JS is part of the web standard
  • 9
    Expansive community
  • 9
    Everyone use it
  • 9
    Can be used in backend, frontend and DB
  • 9
    Easy
  • 8
    Most Popular Language in the World
  • 8
    Powerful
  • 8
    Can be used both as frontend and backend as well
  • 8
    For the good parts
  • 8
    No need to use PHP
  • 8
    Easy to hire developers
  • 7
    Agile, packages simple to use
  • 7
    Love-hate relationship
  • 7
    Photoshop has 3 JS runtimes built in
  • 7
    Evolution of C
  • 7
    It's fun
  • 7
    Hard not to use
  • 7
    Versitile
  • 7
    Its fun and fast
  • 7
    Nice
  • 7
    Popularized Class-Less Architecture & Lambdas
  • 7
    Supports lambdas and closures
  • 6
    It let's me use Babel & Typescript
  • 6
    Can be used on frontend/backend/Mobile/create PRO Ui
  • 6
    1.6K Can be used on frontend/backend
  • 6
    Client side JS uses the visitors CPU to save Server Res
  • 6
    Easy to make something
  • 5
    Clojurescript
  • 5
    Promise relationship
  • 5
    Stockholm Syndrome
  • 5
    Function expressions are useful for callbacks
  • 5
    Scope manipulation
  • 5
    Everywhere
  • 5
    Client processing
  • 5
    What to add
  • 4
    Because it is so simple and lightweight
  • 4
    Only Programming language on browser
  • 1
    Test
  • 1
    Hard to learn
  • 1
    Test2
  • 1
    Not the best
  • 1
    Easy to understand
  • 1
    Subskill #4
  • 1
    Easy to learn
  • 0
    Hard 彤
  • 41
    Fast learning curve
  • 26
    Very easy to embed in C programs
  • 26
    Efficient memory usage
  • 20
    Open source
  • 19
    Good for game scripting
  • 9
    Pretty simple to learn
  • 8
    Quick to code
  • 8
    Simple Language
  • 7
    Syntax is amazing
  • 7
    Supported in most game engines
  • 6
    D
  • 2
    Coroutines
  • 1
    Can be used for a wide variety of development

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Cons of JavaScript
Cons of Lua
  • 22
    A constant moving target, too much churn
  • 20
    Horribly inconsistent
  • 15
    Javascript is the New PHP
  • 9
    No ability to monitor memory utilitization
  • 8
    Shows Zero output in case of ANY error
  • 7
    Thinks strange results are better than errors
  • 6
    Can be ugly
  • 3
    No GitHub
  • 2
    Slow
  • 0
    HORRIBLE DOCUMENTS, faulty code, repo has bugs
  • 4
    Nooby
  • 2
    Not widespread
  • 1
    D
  • 0
    Python

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