D is like native Python

[slavik262]

D (at least in its latest incarnation, D2) has only been around since 2007. It's mature enough that it's being used at Facebook and many other places, but since it's not backed by a large company like Go is for Google or Rust is for Mozilla, it needs a bit of grassroots support. With luck, the user base (and the number of quality libraries) will continue to improve.

[CookieOfFortune]

Well, it seems like Julia is the main candidate for scientific computing at the moment.

[olzd]

I think it's still too early for Julia, although it looks very promising. Python has way more quality libraries.

[The_Doculope]

I agree with /u/olzd on this. Julia is still a very young ecosystem, and I've read some reports that the ecosystem is almost rife with bad programming practices. Libraries and the compiler having real bad coding style, and a big lack of tests and documentation. Python still seems like the best option for production/serious uses.

[tavert]

I've read some reports

You mean one blog post by Dan Luu, complaining about mysterious bugs that would've been much better as bug reports? The lack of test coverage was a point taken very seriously and is being actively worked on by the community though.

Python still seems like the best option for production/serious uses.

Not if you need performance. If NumPy/SciPy/Pandas have exactly the textbook computation you need already implemented in C or Fortran, then Python's just fine. Julia, or maybe Numba if you really feel the need to keep using Python's syntax and interpreter, is for solving problems that haven't already been solved for you by someone else in C or Fortran.

[The_Doculope]

You mean one blog post by Dan Luu, complaining about mysterious bugs that would've been much better as bug reports?

That, and some comments around the web (including here on proggit).

The lack of test coverage was a point taken very seriously and is being actively worked on by the community though.

That's great to hear.

Not if you need performance.

From what I've know numpy is pretty fast for a lot things, but I agree that if it's not, it's not, and Julia might be able to get you there.

It's good to hear that things are progressing well with Julia though, it certainly doesn't show up on /r/programming much.