Why Use Python for AI and Machine Learning?
Machine learning and artificial intelligence-based projects are obviously what the future holds. We want better personalization, smarter recommendations, and improved search functionality. Our apps can see, hear, and respond — that’s what artificial intelligence (AI) has brought, enhancing the user experience and creating value across many industries.
What makes Python the best programming language for machine learning and the best programming language for AI?
AI projects differ from traditional software projects. The differences lie in the technology stack, the skills required for an AI-based project, and the necessity of deep research. To implement your AI aspirations, you should use a programming language that is stable, flexible, and has tools available. Python offers all of this, which is why we see lots of Python AI projects today.
From development to deployment and maintenance, Python helps developers be productive and confident about the software they’re building. Benefits that make Python the best fit for Machine Learning and AI-based projects include simplicity and consistency, access to great libraries and frameworks for AI and machine learning (ML), flexibility, platform independence, and a wide community. These add to the overall popularity of the language.
Simple and consistent
Python offers concise and readable code. While complex algorithms and versatile workflows stand behind machine learning and AI, Python’s simplicity allows developers to write reliable systems. Developers get to put all their effort into solving an ML problem instead of focusing on the technical nuances of the language.
Additionally, Python is appealing to many developers as it’s easy to learn. Python code is understandable by humans, which makes it easier to build models for machine learning.
Many programmers say that Python is more intuitive than other programming languages. Others point out the many frameworks, libraries, and extensions that simplify the implementation of different functionalities. It’s generally accepted that Python is suitable for collaborative implementation when multiple developers are involved. Since Python is a general-purpose language, it can do a set of complex machine learning tasks and enable you to build prototypes quickly that allow you to test your product for machine learning purposes.
Extensive selection of libraries and frameworks
Implementing AI and ML algorithms can be tricky and requires a lot of time. It’s vital to have a well-structured and well-tested environment to enable developers to come up with the best coding solutions.
To reduce development time, programmers turn to a number of Python frameworks and libraries. A software library is pre-written code that developers use to solve common programming tasks. Python, with its rich technology stack, has an extensive set of libraries for artificial intelligence and machine learning. Here are some of them:
- Keras, TensorFlow, and Scikit-learn for machine learning
- NumPy for high-performance scientific computing and data analysis
- SciPy for advanced computing
- Pandas for general-purpose data analysis
- Seaborn for data visualization
Scikit-learn features various classification, regression, and clustering algorithms, including support vector machines, random forests, gradient boosting, k-means, and DBSCAN, and is designed to work with the Python numerical and scientific libraries NumPy and SciPy.
With these solutions, you can develop your product faster. Your development team won’t have to reinvent the wheel and can use an existing library to implement necessary features.
Platform independence
Platform independence refers to a programming language or framework allowing developers to implement things on one machine and use them on another machine without any (or with only minimal) changes. One key to Python’s popularity is that it’s a platform independent language. Python is supported by many platforms including Linux, Windows, and macOS. Python code can be used to create standalone executable programs for most common operating systems, which means that Python software can be easily distributed and used on those operating systems without a Python interpreter.
What’s more, developers usually use services such as Google or Amazon for their computing needs. However, you can often find companies and data scientists who use their own machines with powerful Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to train their ML models. And the fact that Python is platform independent makes this training a lot cheaper and easier.
Great community and popularity
In the Developer Survey 2020 by Stack Overflow, Python was among the top 5 most popular programming languages, which ultimately means that you can find and hire a development company with the necessary skill set to build your AI-based project.
In the Python Developers Survey 2020, we observe that Python is commonly used for web development. At first glance, web development prevails, accounting for over 26% of the use cases shown in the image below. However, if you combine data science and machine learning, they make up a stunning 27%.
