What Made Python the Dominant Language in 2017? Key Events and Trends
A comprehensive 2017 timeline shows how Python surged to the top of machine‑learning, data‑science, and general programming rankings, moved its source code to GitHub, inspired new libraries, and even entered school curricula, highlighting its rapid adoption across diverse tech domains.
1. Python Hot: Machine‑Learning Language Trend – Jan 2017
Deep‑learning job postings still favor Python, ranking it first among the top five languages (Python, C++, Java, C, R), with Java showing rapid growth and Lua’s presence remaining low despite Torch’s influence.
2. Python Officially Migrates to GitHub – Feb 2017
Python switched its source repository from Mercurial to GitHub, embracing Git version control after community discussions that began in 2014.
3. 7 Best AI Programming Languages – Python #1 – Mar 2017
At the 3rd Internet Conference, Baidu’s CEO emphasized AI as the next growth frontier, and Python was highlighted as the most attractive "glue" language for AI development across cloud, client, and IoT platforms.
4. Python Named Most Popular Language – Jul 2017
According to IEEE Spectrum, Python rose from the third spot in 2016 to the world’s most popular language, surpassing C and Java.
5. Python Surpasses R in Data Science & Machine Learning – Aug 2017
A KDnuggets survey of 954 respondents showed Python’s share growing to 41% versus R’s 36%, indicating Python’s dominance in data analysis, data‑science, and ML ecosystems.
7. Python Is the Fastest‑Growing Language in High‑Income Countries – Sep 2017
Stack Overflow traffic analysis revealed that Python’s growth rate in affluent nations exceeds global trends, making it the top‑gaining language.
8. Ubuntu 17.10 Stops Installing Python 2 by Default – Oct 2017
This release drops 32‑bit support for the main edition (though flavors retain it).
Unity is replaced by GNOME 3.26.1.
Wayland becomes the default display server, with X.Org optional.
Python 2 is omitted; Python 3 is upgraded to 3.6.
9. NumPy Announces End of Python 2.7 Support – Nov 2017
NumPy plans to cease Python 2 support by the end of 2018 and will release new features for Python 3 only from 2019 onward.
10. Google Research Blog Releases Open‑Source Python Library “Tangent” – Dec 2017
Tangent is a source‑to‑source automatic‑differentiation library that lets users compute gradients of Python functions, improving visibility and debuggability compared with existing ML frameworks.
11. Python Enters Primary School Textbooks and National Exams – Dec 2017
From 2018, Zhejiang’s information‑technology curriculum will replace VB with Python, and the language is slated for inclusion in the national computer‑skill exam; similar moves are underway in Beijing and Shandong.
12. Microsoft Considers Adding Python as an Official Excel Scripting Language – Dec 2017
If approved, Excel users could script with Python similarly to VBA, interacting with workbooks, data, and core Excel functions.
13. Django 2.0 Released – Dec 2017
Django 2.0 drops Python 2 support; it runs on Python 3.4‑3.6, with Python 3.4 support ending in March 2019, making this the last Django version to support that interpreter.
This article was originally reposted from Zhihu. Original link: https://www.zhihu.com/question/61057521
Signed-in readers can open the original source through BestHub's protected redirect.
This article has been distilled and summarized from source material, then republished for learning and reference. If you believe it infringes your rights, please contactand we will review it promptly.
Efficient Ops
This public account is maintained by Xiaotianguo and friends, regularly publishing widely-read original technical articles. We focus on operations transformation and accompany you throughout your operations career, growing together happily.
How this landed with the community
Was this worth your time?
0 Comments
Thoughtful readers leave field notes, pushback, and hard-won operational detail here.