For shadow IT, anything that requires "installation" vs. being in the base system or being added as a file to a project is an inconvenience.

It's why I like using Bottle for small Python frontends: download the file and import.

(I'm ranting based on personal experiences with IT in the past. Yes in general virtualenv is the baseline)

Compile python to executable is always an option.

If you're dealing with a managed system, chances are, compilers are banned. You'll have to be unsafe and work outside the constrained environment - potentially violating policies, contracts, regulations and laws.

> You should always use virtual envs.

If you're not using dependencies, and are writing 3.x code, there's very little justification.

Not using dependencies is rather niche. Most people come to Python because they want to use pre-existing libraries.

I don't have to deal with this in JS or I think in other stuff like Golang. I give someone a package.json with versions of everything. npm install always sets deps up locally, but doesn't need to copy the entire NodeJS runtime.

… node_modules is your venv.

If we use uv from TFA, like the commands are nearly 1:1:

  npm install     <=> uv sync
  npm install foo <=> uv add foo

> It doesn't have to also store a local copy of NodeJS

… which Node devs do have a thing for, too, called nvm, written in bash.

The difference is it's default, it always works the same everywhere, it actually writes down the deps, and I don't have to manually switch between them (or set up fancy bashrc triggers) like venvs.

> it's default

This point is true; the ecosystem simply can't change overnight. uv is getting there, I hope.

> it always works the same everywhere

`uv` works the same, everywhere?

> it actually writes down the deps

`uv add` does that, too.

> I don't have to manually switch between them (or set up fancy bashrc triggers) like venvs.

You don't have to do that with `uv`, either?

Hope they make uv default then. It's nice, but I have to separately create a project with it, and regular python commands don't work with it, both of which go back to it not being default. But even that won't fix all the old projects.

node is not the default in js projects either, it's just the currently most popular manager. Old JS projects are their own bundle of fun.

Basically is by now. This is more of a recent thing for frontend JS, but NodeJS (which is more directly comparable to Python) had npm I think from the start.

Those browser JS libs installed via <script> tags though, honestly were pretty convenient in a way.