Why We Choose Java Over The Python In Selenium Web Driver?

Most software testing companies prefer to use selenium web driver with Java for testing web applications. However, using python instead of Java offers ease of writing test scripts.   

Though it initially requires a cost to develop an automation test suite but taking help of a tool like Selenium helps in delivering better quality software. Besides, with less effort and less manpower, the hassle to perform repetitive tasks is reduced. 

Since repetitive testing or repeating a set of test case execution is very usual in continuous delivery development models, software are usually prone to errors in such environment. Thus, it becomes necessary that a right choice of platforms should be made amongst Java Selenium vs Python Selenium to keep things easy.  

Exploring Selenium  

Most testers and IT experts prefer to stick with Selenium to meet their automation goals and this is all because of the open-source framework and zero licensing costs. Besides there are several other benefits of using Selenium that makes it the perfect tool to be used for automation practices with Java.   

Benefits Of Selenium When Automating Test Run 

• Testing can be done in any environment or operating system, either Windows, Linux or Mac.  
• Selenium offers support for all browsers which makes it easier for testers to work no matter they are using safari, opera, Mozilla Firefox, google chrome, or internet explorer.   
• It offers easy integrations with tools like JUnit and TestNG that allows easier test management and reporting.   
• It can even be used for continuous testing tasks through effective integration with Docker, Jenkins, and Maven.  
• Last but not least, selenium offers support on multiple programming languages like Java, Python, PHP, Perl, .Net, and Ruby.   

But, when we have such a powerful tool that is open source and has large community support spanning many operating systems, browsers and languages; the only question that arises is  

Selenium Python vs Selenium Java : Which is Best?

Selenium is compatible with numerous languages namely; Perl, Ruby, C#, Java, Python and so on. However, most of the time, it is seen to be used with Java instead of Python, when in option. In the rest of the article, let’s have a look at how the requirements and the objectives of the user could impact the user's choice of working Selenium with Java or Python.

Python  

Python is a high-level language that is interpreted and simple to understand. It is an open-source language known for its flexibility and extensive libraries.  

Java 

Java is the most widely used and oldest programming language due to its robust nature.  More than 80% of experts prefer to work Selenium with Java. Primarily, Selenium is also developed by Java. Besides, it is platform-independent which mean a program written for windows will also run for other types of the operating system.  

With that being said, here are some reasons that could make a user choose Selenium with Python or Selenium with Java. 

Why Selenium With Java Over Python? 

Most of the times, young QAs are seen struggling with dilemma of making the choice, finding which is better, selenium with Java, or Python? Coming to Java, it has a very large supporting community which secures its position on the top in the future as well. Apart from this, Java is one of the widely used languages in IT practices making around 77 per cent of selenium testers stick with Java in their routine for convenient knowledge transfer.  

Besides, the age factor associated with Java has made it easier for testers to find ready to use frameworks, APIs, and plugins. Above all, it is a completely platform-independent language that is statically typed which means the users gets rapid feedback on errors when writing automation scripts in Java.  

Also, the phrases “dynamically typed” means that Python performs type checking at runtime, while statically typed languages like Java perform type checking at compile time. With that, let us quickly walk through the benefits and limitations of using Selenium with Java.  

Benefits & Limitations Of Using Java With Selenium

• Compilation  

At first, let us compare Selenium Java or Python on the basis of compilation capabilities.

Python can compile even if the program contains errors due to its dynamic nature and would result in the unsuccessful execution of the script. On the flip side, Java has a JIT compiler, which shows errors at compile time only saving the user’s extra effort of recognizing errors at an early stage of development.  

• Debugging  

Java is statically typed which data types of variables should be declared before using them, while Python does not. Though Python is more flexible and can save you time and space when running scripts, it can cause issues at runtime. Therefore, when comparing on the basis of debugging for selenium java or python, Java appears to be a better choice.  

• Performance  

Choosing a language narrow down to what we are trying to achieve with the code. Performance is not always the parameter, but it is always a basic metric to decide the capability of any technology. Code optimization and virtual machine execution make Java more efficient when it comes to performance and speed.  

• Changing Old Systems 

Python is more effective than java when it comes to adapting legacy systems. The existing system can be changed easily using python language due to its embeddable capabilities. Hence, one need not to fully rewrite and revamp the system like it needs to be done for Java.  

As far as choosing one language is concerned, both have their pros and cons. Automation with java is more predictable and reliable due to the language’s static type system, which makes automated refactored.  

On the other hand, Python’s dynamic system relies on brevity, fluidity, and experimentation in code, giving it more versatility than Java’s rigid style. Python has also been adapting to automated testing in modern development, but this happens more frequently in integration instead of unit testing.  

JVM code can be JIT-compiled efficiently, using a fast compiler. But the same would be hard for Python, because of its dynamically typed nature.   

JVM translates to a fairly low level and straightforward native code, but for the dynamic languages, you'd have to generate dynamic dispatch for literally all the basic operations and for all the method calls. This dynamic dispatch is the primary hindrance for python to be faster than java.  

Case Study: Social Media Platform Testing Using Selenium 

Conclusion  

When it comes to making a selection amongst selenium java or selenium python, it is found that Selenium test automation with Java is preferred by more than 80% of professionals. But it doesn’t mean that learning Selenium with Python is not useful. Selecting the programming options like Java Selenium or Python Selenium framework depends on where you going to use them. Thus, it is quite difficult to answer Selenium with Java or Python, which is better, due to the matter of varying choices. 

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