Yes — Python is older than Java. Python was first released on 20 February 1991 by Guido van Rossum, while Java was officially released later on 23 May 1995 by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems. This makes Python roughly four years older than Java.

Despite its earlier release, Python only gained massive mainstream popularity in the late 2000s to 2010s, largely due to the rise of data science, machine learning, and web development frameworks like Django and Flask. Java, on the other hand, became widely adopted almost immediately in the mid-1990s, especially for enterprise applications, Android development, and server-side systems.

Key Historical Points

• Python (1991): Designed as a high-level, interpreted, dynamically typed language with a focus on readability and simplicity.

• Java (1995): Created as a compiled, statically typed, object-oriented language with the WORA principle (Write Once, Run Anywhere), making it highly portable.

• Popularity Timeline: Java dominated the late 1990s and early 2000s, while Python’s surge came later, driven by AI, automation, and scientific computing.