In this article, we will discuss introduction to Python programming
What is Python ?
- Python is a general purpose, high-level programming language
Who introduced Python ?
- Guido Van Rossam introduced/developed Python language while working at National Research Institute (NRI), The Netherlands in the year 1989
Why the language is named as Python ?
- The language is named as Python, after British Broadcasting Corporation‘s (BBC) popular TV comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus broadcasted between 1969-1974
When it was made available to world of programmers ?
- Officially Python is introduced to world/public on 20th of February, 1991
- First stable Python version 1.0 is made available on 26th January, 1994
What are the key features or advantages of Python ?
- Simple & Easy to learn
- Freeware & Opensource
1. Freeware – We don’t need to pay any amount for Python license
2. Opensource – We can access & customize Python using source code and use one of its customized flavors for our own purpose - High-level programming language
- Platform independent – we can develop Python application/programs in Windows OS based machine and same code can be executed in other machines like Mac OS, Sun Solaris, Unix, Linux, etc. i.e.; Write Once and Run Anywhere (WORA)
- Portable – migrating from one platform to another platform without any changes like we can move currently executing Python programs in Window OS machine to Unix OS
- Dynamically typed language – there is no need to declare data-type like other high-level languages and it is auto-detected or interpreted based on the value provided
- Supports both Procedure-oriented & Object-Oriented programming
- Interpreted – programs in Python will be interpreted line-by-line instead of compilation at once and due to this there may be chance of performance issue
- Extensible – we can use other languages along with Python i.e.; native support and this increases performance of the application
- Embedded – we can use/embed Python in other languages as well
- Extensive library – there are many already built-in functions in Python, we need to import and use for our requirement without reinventing the wheel
Whether Python is Functional or Object-Oriented language ?
It is combination of multiple features embedded into one language
- Functional (or Procedural) programming from C language
- Object-oriented programming from C++ language
- Scripting features from Perl/Shell scripts
- Modular features from Modula-3
- Syntax of Python came from C & ABC languages
What are the different flavors of Python available ?
- CPython – It is used to work with C language
- JPython – used to work with Java language
- IronPython – used to work with C# or DotNet platform
- PyPy – Python for speed, performance-wise it will be higher as there is JIT (Just-in-Time) compiler present inside PVM (Python Virtual Machine)
- RubyPython – used to work with Ruby scripting language
- AnacondaPython – used to work with large volume of data processing i.e.; big data
- Stackless – Python for concurrency
What are the different versions of Python available ?
Major releases are listed below,
- Python 1.0 version is introduced January, 1994
- Python 2.0 version is introduced October, 2000
- Python 3.0 version is introduced December, 2008
General rule for any programming language is to provide backward compatibility but Python language doesn’t facilitate this feature, as some features in Python 2.0 version won’t work in Python 3.0 version. For example,
- long data-type present in Python 2.0 version but it is completely vanished in Python 3.0 version
- Similarly, to print anything in Python we have to use round-brackets in version 3.0 but it is invalid to use in version 2.0
What are the limitations of Python ?
- Performance issue, as it is interpreted where it checks line-by-line
- Python isn’t advanced enough to build/develop Mobile applications
Where we can use Python language ?
We can use Python language for developing different types of application like,
- Standalone or desktop application
- Web based application
- Database application
- Networking application
- Games application
- Data analysis
- Data Science
- Machine learning (ML/DL)
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Internet of Things (IoT)
Which companies using Python language ?
Almost, every major companies using Python language for developing their application
- Google & YouTube
- Dropbox for file-sharing
- NASA
- Quora
- Instagram & Facebook
Happy Coding !!
Happy Learning !!
