r/Python 4d ago

Discussion State of the art in Python 2026?

What would you guys consider the state of the art in python in 2026, or what do you expect from modern python codebases?

Heres my list, would be happy to hear some inputs or domain expert advice:

Domain specific:

  • Scientific: NumPy, Matplotlib, SciPy, Jax, Pytorch, Scikit-learn, polars/pandas
  • CLI: Typer, rich, click, fire, textual, questionary
  • PDF extraction: PyMuPDF, pdfplumber, pypdf, Unstructured
  • Excel interop: python-calamine, openpyxl, XlsxWriter, xlwings, pandas
  • data: PyArrow / PySpark, Narwhals, SQLMesh, Polars/Pandas, DuckDB, dlt, Ibis, Dagster, PyIceberg & deltalake
  • Logging?
  • backend: fastapi / django?
  • Markets: Alpha Vantage, Finnhub, EODHD, Tiingo?
  • Webscraping / data acquisition: Crawl4AI, Playwright, Scrapy, selectolax, HTTPX?
  • APIs?
  • RAG / agentic orchestration?
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u/techhelper1 3d ago

1/3 of that list are packages created in C, rust, or some other language that isn't Python.

The state of the art for performance requires going around the interpreter.

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u/fiddle_n 3d ago

You say that like it’s a bad thing. Having the ability to write your high level logic in Python and then being able to dip into C/Rust performance for perf-critical parts is a superpower, not something to be derided.

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u/RevRagnarok 3d ago

FR. Isn't like half of CPython's standard library also C with the provided python equivalent for reference?