What is Python? — A Guide for Beginners
What is Python? Well, curiosity has led you here. Most of you reading this blog are either completely new to programming or just want to know about the buzz that it has created around the world. So let us go ahead and understand exactly what is Python.
This article comprises of:
- What is Python?
- Why Python?
- How is Python Used?
- Python Features
- Python Basics
What is Python?
So let me clear the air by formally introducing to you what is Python. Python is a high level, interpreted language which has an easy syntax and dynamic semantics. Python is much easier than other programming languages and helps you create beautiful applications with less effort and much more ease.
Why Python?
You would wonder why use Python anyways? Let me help you understand using the keywords in the formal definition of Python.
- High Level
Python derives components from the natural language that we humans use to communicate with each other. This makes it easier for anyone to try and relate what exactly could be happening without the burden of going through tons of machine code. - Interpreted
Python codes are compiled line-by-line which makes debugging errors much easier and efficient. But this comes at a cost as it is much slower than other programming languages. - Easy Syntax
Python makes use of indentations instead of braces to distinguish what blocks of code come under which class or function. This makes the code look well distributed and makes it easy for anyone to read it. - Dynamic Semantics
If you are an old school coder, you would know that before using anything, you would need to initialize it. It does all of this dynamically.
How is Python used?
Understanding what is Python and why it should be used, you would wonder what can you do when you master it. Well, the list is just surprisingly long. For instance,
- Creating web applications with Python Frameworks such as Django and Flask
- You can create workflows for the software that you are working on
- Use Python to modify files and data stored in Databases
- Scientific, Analytic and complex calculations can be taken care of easily
- You can create software much quicker with Python, which is ready for deployment
The list just goes on and on. You can have a really good career with Python as your go-to language for solving problems. Let me name a few of the titles that you can pursue.
- Data Scientist
A Data Scientist is someone who cracks complex problems which relate to the field of math, statistics and brings around a solution to these problems in a logical manner. - Software Engineer
Software engineers design, develop, test, and maintain software applications that they create for their clients according to the requirements. - Web Developer
Web developers create web applications to serve their users using the client-server model. There are applications such as information sharing, social network platforms, entertainment which are just a few to name.
Python Features
Python is slow. However, its popularity does not stop to grow as it can achieve better productivity with lesser code, making Python one of the most liked languages. Python has a list of features that attract almost anyone to start coding with it.
- Simplicity
Python is its own kind of simple. All you need to know is how the indentations work and you can code the most complex of problems in the fewer lines of code. - Open Source
Python is free for anyone to use. You even have the freedom to modify the code of Python to better your own needs without facing any repercussions. - Portability
Code writing can be done once and run across different systems without any changes. This makes it super helpful when a team works on a project. - Embedding Properties
Python allows the code of other languages such as C, C++ to be embedded, which makes it much more powerful and versatile. - Interpretation
As you know, Python is compiled line-by-line, making debugging easier and memory management much more efficient - Library Support
Python supports libraries that you can use and get started off to obtain your solutions much faster and easier. And the community for these libraries is very active and helpful - OOPS
Object-Oriented concepts help you replicate real-world scenarios in your code and also provide security to them so that you can obtain a well-made application
Research and statistical data have proven that Python is the most growing language of all time. Using the TIOBE’s package which keeps track of the popularity growth, we obtain the following data.
Python Basics
In conclusion, let us write a small program. You can follow this step-to-step guide to get yourself set up.
print('Hello world. Welcome to Edureka!')
Output: Hello world. Welcome to Edureka!
If you wish to check out more articles on the market’s most trending technologies like Artificial Intelligence, DevOps, Ethical Hacking, then you can refer to Edureka’s official site.
Do look out for other articles in this series which will explain the various other aspects of Python and Data Science.
1. Machine Learning Classifier in Python
2. Python Scikit-Learn Cheat Sheet
4. Python Libraries For Data Science And Machine Learning
9. OOPs Interview Questions and Answers
10. Resume For A Python Developer
11. Exploratory Data Analysis In Python
12. Snake Game With Python’s Turtle Module
14. Principal Component Analysis
15. Python vs C++
16. Scrapy Tutorial
17. Python SciPy
18. Least Squares Regression Method
19. Jupyter Notebook Cheat Sheet
20. Python Basics
23. Python Decorator
25. Mobile Applications Using Kivy In Python
26. Top 10 Best Books To Learn & Practice Python
27. Robot Framework With Python
28. Snake Game in Python using PyGame
29. Django Interview Questions and Answers
30. Top 10 Python Applications
31. Hash Tables and Hashmaps in Python
32. What is Socket Programming in Python
34. Python Tutorial
Originally published at https://www.edureka.co on November 26, 2019.
