Theoretically Julia is better for scientific computing, the only issue is its package ecosystem isn't as mature as Python's. But it's growing incredibly fast and there have already been libraries available for a few years that would be really impractical to write and maintain at such a level in C++ for Python. I assume that for science at least Julia will catch on a lot.
> Theoretically Julia is better for scientific computing, the only issue is its package ecosystem isn't as mature as Python's.
That's not a small issue. The ecosystem is probably the reason people choose NumPy over MATLAB, for example. NumPy is not inherently superior to MATLAB, and most academicians that adopted NumPy in the 2000's already had a MATLAB license, so cost was not a concern either.
I started using python and numpy/scipy back then because it was vastly easier to deploy on a server or supercomputer. The matlab compiler meanwhile is clunky and adds new bugs and additional steps. Julia doesn't really match python in this regard either.
For more pure research and prototyping things both can do, I still think matlab is better though I rarely use it. I just like the idea of being able to easily deploy the code later somehow. Kind of an entrepreneurial feature.
In Julia, there is one package manager and it gets things right. https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/stdlib/Pkg/ It's super nice to have no fragmentation when it comes to packaging. In Pkg, package states are immutable, always reproducible, and quick. Julia packages that have binary dependencies usually build them all for every platform using the binary builder infrastructure (https://github.com/JuliaPackaging/Yggdrasil). It makes cross platform installation robust and testable, and suuuper quick. Pkg really is the rolls royce of package managers.
In fact, it's not an issue at all since Julias ecosystem is a superset of that of Python: with PyCall you can use Python libraries and Julia libraries in one program without issues.
Well that could have been said (and was said) about Numpy/Scipy when it started, "oh R has so many more packages, what numpy can do I can do in MATLAB ...", yet here we are.
It depends on the definition of 'people'. There were many who adopted numpy much before the ecosystem had had time to catchup. But I would readily concede that Dr. Jones @national_lab didnt at that time, in fact he probably hasnt even now.
I do disagree strongly with the opinion that Numpy is no better than MATLAB :). MATLAB has adopted some Numpy features after Numpy came out (broadcasting for example) but Numpy offered some genuine and unique advantages, both technical (broadcasting, no need for a MEX compiler that I have to pay through my nose for, not restricted to weird naming conventions, nature of parameter passing, ...) and legal.
I just don't like the BASIC derived syntax of Julia (and Ruby.) I wish there was a language that was typed, had python like classes, subroutines and lambdas but JS like anonymous functions that was fast like Julia or at least close to numpy in number crunching without needing a module written in C.
Have a look at Nim, I was presently surprised when I recently tried it out. Now if there was just a better way of integrating with numpy it would be my goto language for writing computation intensive modules for python.
I think Numpy made it easier for people to integrate with a ton of open source libraries. Since everything is proprietary and the users are in a few specific niches, Matlab can't be as versatile. Also, each of the Matlab add-ons are another expensive license people are reluctant to pay. Sure, there are a bunch of contributed libraries for specific tasks, but comparatively the community is pretty poor.
> its package ecosystem isn't as mature as Python's.
Python packages are either interfacing external libraries (something that is much easier to do in Julia) or if they are pure python, badly designed and buggy.
(and package management in python is broken beyond repair)
Julia is a fine platform for data science but so are Python/NumPY, R, and Matlab. Few of us have the luxury of building greenfield projects that are independent of our previous choices and real-world constraints. Understanding NumPY within this larger context is important, even if you are committed to the Julia ecosystem.
Julia and the NumPy/SciPy community get along pretty well (or at least they did while I was still doing this stuff). In fact, I may have first heard of Julia when someone presented it at PyCon.
You can roughly divide people with strong opinions on Julia vis-a-vis Python into two groups: People who earnestly want them both to win, and people who are largely just watching from the sidelines.
Now my opinion may seem controversial but I personally believe having feature requests that are old enough to legally drink is not a sign of healthy project management
Pretty moribund. They got dropped by Mozilla so it's entirely community-driven, and there's only so many things you need to add to an email client, unless you want it to turn into emacs or something.
That said it's a damn good product that's damn good at what it does.
Just in case people don't know, although the name sounds French I've literally never seen one in France. I guess it's like Mexico's Taco Bell or something
Up until 20 years ago a foreign language was compulsory in UK secondary schools through the equivalent of US high school. The default foreign language that virtually every school would teach was French, with other languages usually being a nice to have. There’d be the occasional school that taught German but not French. Up until very recently it could be assumed that virtually every educated Briton could read French to a low level. And up until the 70s at least not being able to speak French on some level would have been vaguely embarrassing for middle class strivers. Writing things in French is not a claim to be from France, it’s a class thing.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Europe, speaking multiple languages to a useful level is completely normal. They really are much better at that than we (Brits) are, and the decision to drop the language requirements we did have in schools has always seemed like a backward step to me.
I doubt Pret’s name really makes much difference to who it appeals to, though. It’s a well-known brand, but if you’re selling sandwiches and coffees for those prices as an everyday thing, you are clearly aiming for a certain type of customer anyway.
> Meanwhile, elsewhere in Europe, speaking multiple languages to a useful level is completely normal.
If they were more useful many more Brits would speak foreign languages to a useful level. I can get by in French and German and I can read Spanish. It’s been of extremely limited use to me except when I lived in Germany. English OTOH is the world’s favorite second language and the language of science and international business. If the British had a land border with people who spoke another language many more would speak that, and if fewer people spoke English more Britons would be motivated to learn a foreign language. Learning foreign languages is great but it’s kind of a giant waste of time for most English native speakers on any monetary level. Most people never live abroad and holidays are an atrocious reason to learn a language considering the enormous time investment necessary to get to passable never mind fluent.
From a purely utilitarian point of view, I can’t argue with that. If almost everyone speaks English and your only goal is to be able to communicate effectively, a native English-speaker gains little from learning any other language. I suppose the benefits I have found in studying other languages are more subjective.
For example, I enjoy travelling and exploring other cultures. If I’m going to be spending some time in someone else’s community, I feel both a little vulnerable and a little… inconsiderate?… if I haven’t studied at least the rudiments of their language and culture before I go. Sometimes the locals seem to appreciate it if we’ve made the effort as well, even if we’re obviously tourists and only able to do basic things like ordering lunch or simply being polite and friendly using their language. And of course, not everyone speaks English, particularly once you move away from the main tourist areas.
Sometimes I also find it interesting to see foreign perspectives on current events. Brexit is the obvious recent example given I’m a Brit, but more generally, I think it’s healthy to see different views of international relations or global issues from time to time, and sometimes also to understand the domestic politics of our geographic neighbours and our foreign partners in trade or other matters.
As a rather different point to end on, I think studying languages in school can also be helpful just for expanding the young mind. It requires being able to see things from different points of view and to think logically, and I think those are healthy characteristics to develop in general. IMHO, school at that age shouldn’t just be about memorising raw facts and figures and about learning economically valuable skills.
In most countries I’ve visited, multilingual public signage was the norm, especially in tourist areas but often beyond, like in public transportation and such.
London signage is the most unilingual I’ve seen anywhere. In the US you will often see Spanish, and in Canada you sometimes see French but in the UK, nope, just English. I guess it makes sense... what other language would one put on UK signage?
The name is a pun on the fashion term "prêt-à-porter" which is often used in English. See https://www.net-a-porter.com/ for another example of a brand that riffs on the term without being French.
I wanted to say the same. I will add that because "prêt-à-porter" is a fashion term, it would be somewhat familiar to London city office workers, especially the upscale demographic they target with their prices and marketing.
If you've just now taken the venv plunge wait until you learn about conda. Python is more or less a shitshow when it comes for packaging and it's the reason I'm drifting away from it little by little
The actual solution to gerrymandering is to discard the whole silly idea of 'district' and vote proportionally, just many countries do and are not the worse off for it.
What about the rural states, you say? Well they still get to manage their own, internal affairs with their own legislature, governors, etc. But as far as state-level decisions are concerned, their weight should be exactly equal to that of their population representation.
The reason France's math output is so stellar is because of the controversial grand école system - pretty much every great French mathematician you can name came out of one of the top 2 schools. It's very elitist (and the elitism is misplaced since the system as well as the schools are virtually unknown outside of France compared to, say, the Ivies) but it does have results.
