Why is Python becoming popular among C++ developers

[gomesrod]

Hi all,

Lately, people from the "C++ world" are speaking a lot about the Python language. C++ authors such as Bruce Eckel say good things about it. Many job positions for C++ developers also ask for Python knowledge.

Indeed Python is a nice language, though I've never used it in real projects.

But I would like to know of you:
What is the affinity between C++ and Python? How does these languages relate to each other? In what kind of problem does a C++ developer use Python? Is there some common solution or product that integrates them?

Thanks!

[Austin J]

I can't honestly speak from first-hand experience, but I think there are some common reasons. Perhaps they are developing the guts of a front-end application in C++ and then wrapping it up and applying it in Python? Python is known to be pretty easy to learn and has quite a large library (much of the same story as Java, although I believe Java is faster) I've seen a lot of people use Python rather than something like Lua for certain parts of their games. Like I said though I can't really speak from 1st-hand experience on account of the fact I don't even know Python.

[cnoeval]

Python is written in C and can call C code directly. Being interpreted and dynamically typed it is far more top level. That makes it easier to learn and to use but makes it generally slower. Writing time-critical subroutine code in pure C and calling it from Python is a powerful combination which probably explains the popularity of teaming them up.

[gomesrod]

Thanks for the answers, now I can see some possibilities.

If anybody else has something to share, be welcome :-)