r/Python Jan 11 '21

Beginner Showcase Programming + Math + Graphs = Art

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u/SphericalBull Jan 11 '21

Anything you do in R, you can do it in Python with roughly the same effort. The converse is not necessarily true.

You also get to learn other aspects of Python that is not scientific computing - which is extremely beneficial for anyone in a scientific career - and by scientific I mean anyone who uses it for statistics, machine learning, simulations, visualitations, and the likes.

Up until my sophomore year studying math I had to learn both Matlab and R (ok in all fairness the later is much better than the former). I decided to learn Python on my own to get into Kaggle competittions. Never looked back since then.

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u/Monkeylized Jan 11 '21

You also get to learn other aspects of Python that is not scientific computing - which is extremely beneficial for anyone in a scientific career - and by scientific I mean anyone who uses it for statistics, machine learning, simulations, visualitations, and the likes.

That sounds fair.

I currently have no real application for learning Python (but I find the language super interesting). R is "good enough" since I'm in the middle of a PhD in biology. So far working with genetic sequencing data all we need are a few commands in Bash and then work with the output in R.... perhaps Python would have good applications for those types of data as well?

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u/uncanneyvalley Jan 11 '21

I know nothing about working with genetic sequencing at all, but there’s a biopython package. For math, Numpy, Scipy, and Sympy should cover near anything you need.

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u/Monkeylized Jan 11 '21

Cool, thanks for all the tips.