Introduction to Python
A Brief History
Python was developed by Guido van Rossum in 1991. Python is an easy to learn and very powerful programming language. The efficiency of this language makes it one of the most used programming languages around the world.
Benefits of Python
- Readability: Python was designed by keeping readability as a priority. Unlike many programming languages, it is very easy to read.
- Cross-Platform Availability: Python is available at all platforms such as Windows, Linux, mac-OS, etc. This makes the language very easy to handle.
- Easy Syntax: Python has an easy to understand syntax as it is similar to English language.
- Free to use: Python is free to use, you can implement it in your software without paying a single penny. It is a part of the packages that can be distributed and used free of cost from anyone which is also a reason why it is quite popular.
- Advanced Code Execution: The code is executed in real-time which means that the code will run in the interpreter without an external command window. This makes it easy to run different lines of code at the same time without running them multiple times and getting errors in different code lines each and every time.
- Exceptional Memory Management: You won’t have to clear memory on your own because Python clears and creates memory automatically.
- Fewer Lines of Code: Python allows you to write a code in lesser lines as compared to few other programming languages.
Applications of Python
Python has many wonderful applications and many products that you use daily are based upon it, let us see what are those applications
- Machine Learning: Many machine learning algorithms are written in Python, as the name implies machine learning means that a machine learns over time without being explicitly programmed. This makes machine learning an important application of Python because you have to write code only once with/without a few adjustments in the code over time. Websites like Amazon, Flipkart, etc., use machine learning algorithms to recommend products based on a user’s interest, also, music recommendations provided in many music streaming platforms like Spotify are based upon some powerful machine learning algorithms.
- Data Analysis: Python is used to visualize data on graphs and it becomes easy to work on the data after visualizing it.
- Web Development: Many web frameworks like CherryPy and Django are based on Python. Web frameworks are used to analyze data, URL mapping, etc. In these frameworks, everything happens on the server-side.
- App and Game Development: Python is becoming popular day by day. Complex games and apps can be made using Python. Apps like Spotify, Instagram, Dropbox, etc., are completely made using Python. Some of the hardest and most complex games are made using Python like Eve Online and Sims 4,etc. This shows how much versatility is present in the language.
- Task Automation: Using scripting in Python, you can automate many tasks. For example, if you are very lazy to wish someone “Happy Birthday” to your friend, then you can write a Python script that will do this task as soon as the clock hit 12:00 AM.
Few Things You Should Know
- Python 3 is currently the active version of the Python language as the Python 2 might expire by the end of year 2019.
- There are many Python interpreters available on the internet, so choose the one which suits you the most.
- Python is an Object Oriented Programming language which means the language is organized around data and objects rather than functions or logic.