An Overview Of Python
Published in
3 min readDec 15, 2019
So let’s take some idea about Python,
- Python was developed by Guido van Rossum at the National Research Institute in the Netherlands in the late 80s. Its first version was officially released in 1991. He derived its core syntax from the ABC language, borrowed heavily from C, and borrowed partly from other languages such as C++, Modula-3, Unix shell, SmallTalk, and Algol-68.
- Python is a high-level, object-oriented, interactive, interpreted, and general-purpose programming language.
- A high-level scripting language, Python codes are designed to be highly readable. Its programs are written in nearly regular English and are neatly indented. It uses English keywords, concise codes, and simple syntax.
- It is a multi-paradigm programming language that supports structured, functional, aspect-oriented, and object-oriented programming methods.
- Python is an object-oriented programming language. It emphasizes the use of objects over functions in contrast with languages that are procedure-oriented. It supports user-defined classes, inheritance, multiple inheritances, and methods binding at runtime.
- Python is interactive. You can write your program directly on the Python prompt and generate immediate feedback. You can use the prompt to test bits of codes.
- Python is both a compiled and interpreted language. Python is an interpreted language because it has to convert codes into machine-readable byte codes before it can run them. It is also a compiled language because behind the scenes, Python is implemented with a
combination of an interpreter and bytecode compiler. It performs the compilation implicitly as it loads the modules. In addition, some standard processes require the availability of the compiler at runtime. - Python is a powerful and flexible language. You can use it to automate and simplify complicated tasks at work or at home. You can develop large web applications, GUIs, and interesting games with it.
- One of the main reasons for Python’s popularity is its extensive standard library which contains more than a hundred modules. Users can access these modules easily with a simple import statement. The most commonly used ones include network programming, internet protocols such as HTTP, SMTP, and FTP, mathematical functions, random
functions, regular expression matching, operating systems, threads, networking programming, GUI toolkit, HTML parsing, XML processing, and email handling. - Although it borrows heavily from C, Python differs in two major areas with C: the use of indentation to structure blocks of codes and the use of dynamic typing.
- In C, statements are grouped with the use of curly braces and a trailing semicolon. In Python, statements are organized into a block with the use of indentation.
- In C, variables are declared and assigned a specific type before they can be used in a program. In Python, variables are just names that point to objects stored in memory. They need not be declared before they are assigned. They can be reassigned and they can change types anywhere in the program.
- Other features that contribute to its popularity are its support for garbage collection and easy integration with other languages such as C, C++, Java, CORBA, ActiveX, and COM.
- Because of its readability and the use of plain English in most of its construction, Python is an easy-to-learn language for many people. While some background in programming is desirable, you don’t need it to learn Python. The language is so easy to learn that many experts recommend Python to students and beginners who are learning to program for the first time. Python is, in fact, for those who are new to programming who want to make powerful and useful programs within a short span of time.
