Choose the Best Language for the Task

I was exploring the codebase for Immich (an open-source replacement for Google Photos) the other day.

Note the languages: TypeScript, Dart, Python. Hmmm, let's see, which language does what... Both the server and the web client are TypeScript. Dart is for the mobile app.

And then... what is Python doing here?!

See -- there is the machine-learning directory. Automatic face recognition, finding similar photos, cool ML features. Could TypeScript do it? It definitely could! But Python is the best language for the task -- every machine learning library, every ML tutorial is Python-first. Python simply has the best building blocks for these tasks.

Of course, when you work with a legacy codebase, you don't have a choice. But for your next project, choose the best language!

Data analytics? Python or R.

Low-level system code? C or Rust.

Video game? C++ or C#.

The language is a tool, not your identity. And if you don't yet know the language you should use? Well, maybe it's time to learn it!