Am I the only one who thinks Python's syntax is not really suited for functional programming? Creating an ad-hoc closure that spans multiple lines, for example, seems awkward.
PS: I'm not aware of any syntax changes in this area since Python 2.7, so I could be wrong.
I’ll say it: Python sucks for Functional Programming. It’s just not the right tool for the job (or job for the tool, depending on your point of view.)
It’s a great language for most programmers to get things done in, but it belongs to the school of ‘limited abstraction is for your own good’. For example, no multi line lambda expressions. The argument given is that it would mess up whitespace syntax. Haskell handles this situation, but it does indeed introduce a bit more syntax.
If you need to FP in a general purpose scripting language, I would be looking at Elixir or Javascript right now.
True, but for better or worse python has support for spark/sklearn/pandas/numpy/plotting/deep learning/web which makes it a good jack of all trades language for data/research science. Its strength is that it can do all of those at levels varying from proficiently to best-in-class.
PS: I'm not aware of any syntax changes in this area since Python 2.7, so I could be wrong.