Both Java and Python are very popular, but I’d say they play in different areas and mostly don’t compete with each other. Python shines as a scripting language – it’s cross-platform, it doesn’t require compilation, and Python scripts have a quick startup time. Basically, Java cannot compete with it as it requires compilation, and JVM startup time is way longer. On the other hand, Java offers better runtime performance and type checking during compilation, which allows you to catch errors during compilation, as opposed to when the program is already running. To summarize, Python is good at scripting, Java is good at handling complex business domains.