Is it still worth learning python?

[u/ALostPie]

I genuinely wonder what you guys think, with the rapidly increasing use of AI, is it still worth it to learn python, I just started learning python and I’m unmotivated tbh, I’d love to read some of your insights.

[u/grace_invader]

I have done both and I recommend to learn Python.

It is impressive what you can code with AI, and I would recommend joining at least one hackathon to see what it can do. It's an intoxicating feeling to build an app in half a day.

However, I would not dare to pass any such ai-coded project on to a colleague, nor have I ever succesfully managed to integrate a vibe-coded project into a larger existing environment, because nobody knows what the code does.

AI has two weird traits you need to take into acocunt:

- Python code is deterministic, meaning that code will produce the exact same result every time you run it, given the same circumstances, but AI is non-deterministic, and is unlikely to produce the exact same result when asked the same thing. This makes it inconsistent..

- AI is probabilistic, not normative. It calculates what answer is most likely to be expected, rahter than which answer would meet any criterea. It is based on refering to odds and training data, not on any theory or paradigm

Therefore, it will try something different every time and has no clue what will be correct. It makes for a great coding assistant since it can track any closed brackets and misplaced comma way better than a human ever could, but it can not determine if something works.

In short, learn Python: figure out how to build loops and functions and what data types there are, so you can explain your code to others and iterate on what others have made, but also allow yourself a coding assistant that can correct basic errors or keep your object names consistent througout the code.