Why do tech giants rely heavily on Python for critical infrastructure?  

Let’s start by saying that more than 500 languages are in use today, and many more are being written while you are reading this. That’s why, selecting a programming language is the first and main step in starting the development cycle. 

Ten years ago, developers had no qualms about choosing technologies because they didn’t have access to a variety of options. Language preference is now based on project characteristics and many similar factors.  

Today we are going to focus on Python, that is a general-purpose programming language. You can use it in web application development, artificial intelligence, computer learning, automation, operating systems, mobile applications, and video games.  

Python’s versatility makes it possible to produce advanced web applications with relative simplicity and ease. It is the ideal solution for complex web development projects. Although HTML and JavaScript are the primary building languages for a web browser or interface, you can use Python-based web frameworks like Django to ease the backend process.  

Now, we can see which are the companies that use Python in 2021!

Google  

With its inclusion in dozens of online services, including search, Android, YouTube, Stadia, and many others, Google has become one of the largest technology companies in the world. With a company like this, your technology stack includes more than one core language, namely Python, Java, and Golang.  

When it first started, Google adopted Python due to its simple nature and relatively quick maintenance and has continued to use it ever since. Services like part of the search engine, YouTube, machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics projects and much more.  

Although Google probably has all the programming languages in its infrastructure, due to its status as a base language, Python continues to benefit from prioritaire.  

Facebook  

Facebook is one of the companies that use Python a lot, making it the third most used language for social networks (behind C ++ and its PHP Dialect property, Hack). Many of Python’s libraries are easy to use, which means that developers don’t have to write a lot of code, allowing them to focus on live enhancements. It also provides an efficient Facebook infrastructure.  

According to Facebook, Python is currently responsible for many infrastructure management services. These include using TORconfig to manage network switch imaging and configuration, FBOSS for white box switch CLI, and using Dapper to schedule and run network switch jobs.  

Facebook has released numerous open-source Python projects written for Py3 that include a Facebook Ads API and a Python Async IRC bot framework.  

Spotify  

Spotify, a leading company, now relies on and uses Python for backend services and data analytics. In addition, Spotify has a multitude of different services linked through the messaging protocol developed in this company. Thus, around 80% of these services are based on Python, the remaining 20% on Java (mainly) and C or C ++ languages.  

The key priorities of the company are rapid development and growth. That’s why Spotify uses Python to build its streaming service: it mostly meets expectations for its speed of development.  

Spotify new architectural updates have been made through gevent, which has a fast events tool with a high-level synchronous API. The company, relies on a large amount of data to provide information and recommendations to users, and for this purpose, Spotify uses Luigi, a Python Module that syncs with Hadoop, to understand them. This open-source project manages how libraries work together and compiles error logs to allow redistribution and troubleshooting.  

In total, Spotify hires more than 6000 Python processes, which work together in the nodes of the Hadoo cluster.

This data places Spotify as one of the largest companies using Python today.  

Quora  

This question-and-answer platform took some of its valuable time deciding which language it wanted to use. Charlie Cheever and Adam D’Angelo, the founders, limited the options to Python, C #, Java, and Scala. Their main concern with Python was the lack and relative slowness of type checking.  

The creators of Quora followed the example of Google and decided to use Python. This made the platform easier to write and read and facilitate the application of C ++ to improve performance.  

The presence of many decent frameworks, such as Django and Pylons at the time, was also an important consideration when using Python. Also, the team understood how Quora would primarily involve client/server interactions and would not require loading the entire page. It was a massive plus for Python and JS to work quite well together.  

Amazon  

Amazon is another major leader using the Python language. We should highlight that Amazon has developed specific functionalities related to suggestions or recommended offers to improve its service.  

Amazon analyzes the buying habits and usage patterns of its customers to provide them with specific suggestions. This was possible thanks to the Python learning engine, which contacts the organization’s Hadoop database. They work together to make recommendations that are as effective and accurate as possible.  

The Amazon team chose Python because of its popularity and the many big data features it offers. Additionally, Python is scalable and portable, giving Amazon a unique proposition. Also, as the concrete evidence shows, Python is used quite often in conjunction with other technologies such as Hadoop or Apache.  

Netflix  

Netflix makes part of the companies that use Python, it applies this programming language in a very identical way to Spotify. This company allows its software engineers to select the language they want to code in and has seen a significant increase in the number of Python applications. Also, Python has become an essential part of other Netflix services because it is so easy to build.  

The central alert gateway is one of the item keys that Python is used on. The web application alerts people and groups that may want to watch a series or a movie.   

The application also has the power to remove duplicate alerts that have already been processed, to provide automated solutions such as restarting or completing a task that seems unstable. This is a huge win for Netflix, considering the volume of alerts. Smart management ensures that developers and engineers are not overwhelmed by redundant calls.

BTW, you can learn how to build a Netflix-like service.  

Dropbox  

Dropbox is a cloud storage service that allows you to store files online and sync them with your devices. It uses Python for most of its services and its desktop client. Guido van Rossum, the creator of Python, join Dropbox in 2012. And in his first year at the company, he was able to help share data warehouses with other users in the Dropbox community.  

The company also provides developers with a Python SDK to integrate into their applications. It gives an idea of their value for the platform. The Dropbox developers have also confirmed that they use Python for most of their server-side coding.  

Although many of Dropbox’s libraries and internals are proprietary rather than open-source, the company has released a potent API coded in Python to show how its engineers think.  

As you can see, Python is not just quick and dirty prototyping or “teaching language” for beginners. It is a powerful tool used by multi-million-dollar corporations and highly talented web developers around the world. Basically, there are many companies that use Python, and for very good reasons.  

Do you want to be part of a world-class Python team? Let’s talk! Or simply apply for open positions; we will always be delighted to meet you.