What is Python?

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What is Python?

Python is an open-source, high-level, general-purpose, and object-oriented programming language. Ease of use and code readability are the primary focus of this programming language.

What is Python?

Let us understand each term one by one:

  • Open Source: Open Source means software for which the original source code is freely available and may be redistributed and modified. So, Python is available free of cost for any purpose we want to use, even for commercial purposes.
  • High Level: Machines do not understand human languages, they understand only 0 and 1. Python is a programming language that provides abstraction from machine language. It is designed to be used by humans and contains more natural language-like elements. Users need not worry about the hardware architecture, memory address, etc., which makes it easy to learn and use.
  • General Purpose: It means, it can be used to solve several purposes. Examples include machine learning, games development, web development, programming, data analysis, robotics, etc.
  • Object-Oriented: Python supports an object-oriented paradigm. The object-oriented paradigm is designed to mimic real-world objects. It is built around some concepts of objects, classes, inheritance, polymorphism, etc.

Along with the object-oriented paradigm, it also supports procedural and functional programming paradigms. It is one of the fastest-growing programming languages because it is simple and easy to learn compared to other programming languages.

It is available for almost all major platforms. Because of its huge community and popularity, it has huge library support. When it comes to database connectivity, python has connectors for almost all popular databases like Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.

History of Python

Python was created by Guido van Rossum at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI).

  • The first version of Python 0.9.0 was released in 1991.
  • Then Python 1.0 was released in 1994.
  • Then Python 2.0 was released in 2000.
  • And then Python 3.0 was released in 2008.
Version Release Year
0.9 1991
1.0 1994
2.0 2000
3.0 2008

Python’s name is inspired by a BBC comedy series called “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”.

Python is inspired by the ABC and Modula-3 Programming Languages.

Features of Python

  • Easy to learn with simple syntax.
    • It is simply a type and run programming language.
    • Programs are smaller and easier.
  • Interpreted Language
    • Python is not a compiled Language, it is an interpreted language.
    • All the commands in Python are executed and interpreted one by one.
    • Because of this, Python programs are easy to debug.
  • A few lines of code.
    • Complex programs can be written in python with just few lines of code.
  • Object-oriented programming.
    • Along with the functional and procedural paradigms, it also supports the object-oriented programming paradigm.
  • Dynamically typed language.
    • We can change the datatype of the variable at any stage in between the program.
  • Open-source language.
    • It is free to use and distribute and modify.
  • Platform Independent.
    • It is available for almost every platform.
    • It can be used with Windows, Linux, Macintosh and almost all operating systems.
  • Portable.
    • Python is portable across various Operating Systems.
  • Rich libraries and support.
    • Python is known for its “batteries included” philosophy.
    • It has libraries to do various things like email, unit testing, regular expressions, JSON, WAV Files, GUI and much more.
  • Supports almost all famous databases.
    • It supports almost all the famous databases like, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, MongoDB, etc.

Applications of Python

  • Machine learning applications.
    • Widely used in the Machine Learning applications using the frameworks like SKLearn.
  • Server-side web development.
    • Used in the development of the backend with the frameworks like Django and Flask.
  • Desktop Applications.
    • Tkinter and Kivy can be used for the development of the desktop applications.
  • Artificial intelligence applications.
    • Python is one of the best languages for AI applications. For this, we have frameworks like TensorFlow, Keras and Pytorch. Python has made the development of AI applications effortless.
  • Speech Recognition.
    • Libraries like SpeechRecognition and PyAudio can be used.
  • Gaming.
    • Pygame is used in development of games using Python.
  • Testing.
    • Python can be used to automate testing tasks. We have frameworks like pytest to write test cases.

Pros and Cons of Python

Python has plenty of advantages but some disadvantages as well. It advantages always overlap it few disadvantages, but it is important to know the disadvantages as well. Let us discuss both pros and cons:

Pros of Python:

  1. Open-source.
  2. Easy to learn and implement.
  3. Huge library support.
  4. Improves productivity.
  5. Interpreted language.
  6. Strong community.

Cons of Python:

  1. Execution speed is slow as compared to C and C++.
  2. Weak mobile computing.
  3. Runtime errors.
  4. Because of lack of syntax, it is not easily convertible to other programming language.

Few Companies using Python

Companies using Python

Resources

Test YourselfHandwritten Notes

Questions:

  1. Python is a ___________ level language
  2. Python uses _______________ to convert code to object code.
  3. Python is the fastest language in the World. (True/False)
  4. Python compiles the code before running. (True/False)
  5. Python is a Dynamically Typed Language. (True/False)
  6. Dynamically typed means once a variable is assigned a value, we cannot change the data type. (True/False)
  7. Python is developed by Dennis Ritchie? (True/False)

Answers:

  1. High
  2. Interpreter
  3. False
  4. False
  5. True
  6. False
  7. False

References:

  1. What is Python? Executive Summary
  2. Wikipedia Python (programming language)
  3. What is Python?

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