Python on hardware made an appearance in the Gartner report for Embedded Software and Systems. I saw this on the Arduino Pro newsletter, it’s a free report – to get the report you need to provide name, company, role, email, and agree that you’ve read the privacy policy and then you are taken to a link (it’s not a download of a report). The report is from last year (July 2020), nearly a year ago, so I’m interested what will change in the 2021 one, here is a snippet from the Python section …
“Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Python is a high-level programming language, suited to fast development and easy maintenance. MicroPython brought these advantages to an embedded environment and led to the creation of CircuitPython (which extends support to Adafruit’s popular range of embedded platforms) …”
“Python was originally heralded as an ideal language for educational applications, being selected as the default development environment for the Raspberry Pi Foundation. MicroPython provides a subset of the Python language but replicates the structure and syntax so that developers can take their skills and their applications into low-end hardware. Support for MicroPython has been steadily increasing with the processing power available in embedded systems. We also see more API libraries and peripheral support being added.”
“User Advice: Adopt MicroPython to accelerate development and reduce development costs if time to market is critical. As an interpreted language, Python requires more processing power than low-level languages, so it requires boards with 32-bit microcontrollers. This limitation has become less important as IoT increasingly adopts 32-bit microcontrollers for most applications.”
MicroPython is now in the “Slope of Enlightenment” which is a good place to be it seems…
“Focused experimentation and solid hard work by an increasingly diverse range of organizations lead to a true understanding of the technology’s applicability, risks and benefits. Commercial off-the-shelf methodologies and tools ease the development process.”
Gartner noticing Python on hardware is a big deal, and this is a report from last year, there is A LOT more that has happened and is happening now. From Python on calculators to 200+ boards Adafruit has that supports Python on hardware. It’s also worth noting that MicroPython moved to a better position in Gartner’s report year over year (2019 to 2020 too). Gartner also did a good job summarizing why Python on hardware can accelerate development and reduce development costs.
What are these reports?
“This Hype Cycle charts the progress and potential of embedded software and system technologies. The information here should be used to select the best tools, software, hardware, messaging, security and communications systems as they become the core building blocks for the Internet of Things.”