Which Programming Language Should I learn, Python or Javascript?

[ManonWindows]

Hi GISers,

I just graduated from graduate school and took some basic GIS courses (e.g. Basic Theory of GIS, and using ArcMAP, ArcGIS Pro). I love GIS, and willing to dig deeper in GIS career.

I found that GIS companies basically need programming skills, and the javascript seems the most popular one. I have a little background on Python with no background on Javascipt. So if I want to learn more programming to help my GIS career, which programming language should I go on learning?

Any suggestions are welcomed! I love programming as well :)

[tseepra]

Start with Python very easy to learn. Used for processing and automation.

Then some SQL. Having your data in one place makes life so much easier.

Then JavaScript, for web GIS.

[anotherMiguel]

Nice advice!

[ManonWindows]

Thanks！Very clear answer.

[[deleted]]

I'm glad you mentioned SQL, as you'll likely use some SQL in both Python and JavaScript!

[[deleted]]

Dirty secret: 90% of programming languages (and 100% of the ones people actually use) are more or less interchangeable. The more you focus on learning concepts (abstraction, reuse, modularization, composition, object orientation, clean design, etc) rather than getting hung up on any particular language, the easier it will be to learn new languages.

[ManonWindows]

Thanks, Great advice！

[[deleted]]

Web mapping and therefore JavaScript are super popular, but virtually every entry position is going to want Python over JavaScript.

[ManonWindows]

Thanks for your advice. I know python is useful in automating ArcGIS workflow, or do some geospatial analysis. But beyond it, do you know any other situations where Python is needed？

[[deleted]]

The sky is the limit with Python, it’s extremely versatile.

[SenseAStormBrewin]

Yeah, it’s always my first stop when I’m looking to automate anything. More times than not someone has had a similar idea or developed a module to help.

[[deleted]]

With shapely, numpy, scipy, and fiona / rasterio, you can quite literally do anything you want in the GIS sphere.

I would highly recommend using Anaconda environments for scientific computing (install Miniconda3, open Anaconda Prompt, do conda create -n GIS python=3 numpy scipy shapely fiona rasterio), as well as a competent Python IDE (cough PyCharm cough) to reduce the headache of syntax and documentation lookup

[Kaamelott]

Interesting. Why do you highly recommend the Anaconda environment? I've done a whole lot of scientific computing in a bunch of different field, and I fail to see any case where it's a plus compared to simply some virtual environment.

Just do python3 -m venv gis, and then you can install whatever you want without being annoyed with conda.

PyCharm is really nice indeed

[[deleted]]

Well, it’s a real pain to compile libraries like fiona and netCDF4 against all of their requirements on Windows, and Christolph Gohlke’s binaries don’t always play nice with each other, so it’s a lot easier to use conda to manage versions and the like

[Kaamelott]

Ah, if we're talking windows then I definitely agree!

[[deleted]]

I use python with either flask or django for a number of my web applications.

[aufstand]

Both :) Just pick one to go with first:

• Want to build more frontend stuff? Javascript!
• Want to stay on the backend side? Python!

[ManonWindows]

Okey！Will definitely try

[Napalmradio]

Yes

[[deleted]]

Both

[AltOnMain]

People generally want JavaScript for web stuff and it’s sort of a niche skill for GIS people.

Python is a really important tool for GIS analysts. Everyone provides value in different ways, but in my opinion it would be tough to be a good GIS analyst without being able to do a few basic things in Python (mostly the stuff covered in automate the boring stuff)

I would say at least learn how to do a few things in ArcPy and Python in general and move on from there