How many people are using this language, and by proxy how much help would there be for errors and issues I would have
in 2022, 46 teams were reported to be using Python in competitions, according to FIRST’s data.
As for assistance, the only languages officially supported are C++, Java, and LabView. All other languages (kotlin, python, etc) the event staff have no training with to assist you. Some may try to help, but ultimately you will be on your own.
Not much. Obviously generic support for Python is very extensive, but chances are there won’t be a python team at whatever competitions you go to. Additionally, as @MikLast mentioned, there is no guaranteed official support. If Python is what you have to do you can make it work, but I strongly recommend going with Java or one of the other officially supported languages. It’ll be harder upfront if you don’t know it, but any issues will be much easier to resolve.
FWIW, Python is planned to be officially supported by WPILib next season:
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We used it from 2016-2018, but switched over to java after our lead coders graduated. As I recall support for it was very limited, so you were pretty much on your own if you got into a jam. I’m pretty sure the reason they chose it was just to tell people they used Python, so it was basically a weird flex.
Most issues that you run into when using RobotPy are just issues with using WPILib, which anyone with FRC Java/C++ experience can assist you with – including most CSAs at events. The python aspect of it is (mostly) just a different syntax, everything else is very similar.
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