Python is a general-purpose dynamic programming language.

Python Basics: Python is a high-level programming language designed to be easy to read and simple to implement. It is open source, which means it is free to use, even for commercial applications. Python is considered a scripting language, like Ruby or Perl and is often used for creating Web applications and dynamic Web content.Python has a simple and clear syntax, as well as a concise and readable source code, but is relatively slow, and its industrial applications are mostly web-based.

Python Basics:

Python is an object-oriented programming language created by Guido Rossum in 1989. It is ideally designed for rapid prototyping of complex applications. It has interfaces to many OS system calls and libraries and is extensible to C or C++. Many large companies use the Python programming language include NASA, Google, YouTube, BitTorrent, etc.

Python Programming is widely used in Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Generation, Neural Networks and other advanced fields of Computer Science. Python had deep focus on code readability & this class will teach you python from basics.Python is an open source, high-level programming language developed by Guido van Rossum in the late 1980s and presently administered by Python Software Foundation. It came from the ABC language that he helped create early on in his career.

Python is a powerful language that you can use to create games, write GUIs, and develop web applications. It is a high-level language. Reading and writing codes in Python is much like reading and writing regular English statements. Because they are not written in machine-readable language, Python programs need to be processed before machines can run them. Python is an interpreted language. This means that every time a program is run, its interpreter runs through the code and translates it into machine-readable byte code.

Python is an object-oriented language that allows users to manage and control data structures or objects to create and run programs. Everything in Python is, in fact, first class. All objects, data types, functions, methods, and classes take equal position in Python. Programming languages are created to satisfy the needs of programmers and users for an effective tool to develop applications that impact lives, lifestyles, economy, and society. They help make lives better by increasing productivity, enhancing communication, and improving efficiency. Languages die and become obsolete when they fail to live up to expectations and are replaced and superseded by languages that are more powerful.

Python is a programming language that has stood the test of time and has remained relevant across industries and businesses and among programmers, and individual users. It is a living, thriving, and highly useful language that is highly recommended as a first programming language for those who want to dive into and experience programming.

In this article we present a comparison of these two languages, based on the data acquired from IT students who learnt both of them during programming courses. We use the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique to show the dominance of one language over another in respective comparison criteria, and obtain an overall answer which of the two languages is better, according to the ratings given by students.

Python Programming Characteristics:

  • It provides rich data types and easier to read syntax than any other programming languages
  • It is a platform independent scripted language with full access to operating system API's
  • Compared to other programming languages, it allows more run-time flexibility
  • It includes the basic text manipulation facilities of Perl and Awk
  • A module in Python may have one or more classes and free functions
  • Libraries in Pythons are cross-platform compatible with Linux, Macintosh, and Windows
  • For building large applications, Python can be compiled to byte-code
  • Python supports functional and structured programming as well as OOP
  • It supports interactive mode that allows interacting testing and debugging of snippets of code
  • In Python, since there is no compilation step, editing, debugging and testing is fast.

History of Python:

Python was developed by Guido van Rossum in the late eighties and early nineties at the National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science in the Netherlands.Python is derived from many other languages, including ABC, Modula-3, C, C++, Algol-68, SmallTalk, and Unix shell and other scripting languages.Python is copyrighted. Like Perl, Python source code is now available under the GNU General Public License (GPL).Python is now maintained by a core development team at the institute, although Guido van Rossum still holds a vital role in directing its progress.

Python Features:

Python's features include −

  1. Easy-to-learn − Python has few keywords, simple structure, and a clearly defined syntax. This allows the student to pick up the language quickly.
  2. Easy-to-read − Python code is more clearly defined and visible to the eyes.
  3. Easy-to-maintain − Python's source code is fairly easy-to-maintain.
  4. A broad standard library − Python's bulk of the library is very portable and cross-platform compatible on UNIX, Windows, and Macintosh.
  5. Interactive Mode − Python has support for an interactive mode which allows interactive testing and debugging of snippets of code.
  6. Portable − Python can run on a wide variety of hardware platforms and has the same interface on all platforms.
  7. Extendable − You can add low-level modules to the Python interpreter. These modules enable programmers to add to or customize their tools to be more efficient.
  8. Databases − Python provides interfaces to all major commercial databases.
  9. GUI Programming − Python supports GUI applications that can be created and ported to many system calls, libraries and windows systems, such as Windows MFC, Macintosh, and the X Window system of Unix.
  10. Scalable − Python provides a better structure and support for large programs than shell scripting.

Apart from the above-mentioned features, Python has a big list of good features, few are listed below −

  1. It supports functional and structured programming methods as well as OOP.
  2. It can be used as a scripting language or can be compiled to byte-code for building large applications.
  3. It provides very high-level dynamic data types and supports dynamic type checking.
  4. It supports automatic garbage collection.
  5. It can be easily integrated with C, C++, COM, ActiveX, CORBA, and Java.

Installing Python in Windows :

To install Python, you must first download the installation package of your preferred version from this link: https://www.python.org/downloads/ On this page, you will be asked to choose between the two latest versions for Python 2 and 3: Python 3.5.1 and Python 2.7.11.

Installing Python in Mac:

If you’re using a Mac, you can download the installation package from this link: https://www.python.org/downloads/mac-osx/ Running the Installation file: Once you’re finished with the download, you can proceed to installation by clicking on the downloaded .exe file. Standard installation will include IDLE, pip, and documentation.

Python is a flexible and dynamic language that you can use in different ways. You can use it interactively when you simply want to test a code or a statement on a line-by-line basis or when you’re exploring its features. You can use it in script mode when you want to interpret an entire file of statements or application program. To use Python interactively, you can use either the Command Line window or the IDLE Development Environment.

Command Line Interaction:

The command line is the most straightforward way to work with Python. You can easily visualize how Python works as it responds to every completed command entered on the >>> prompt. It may not be the most preferred interaction with Python, but it is the simplest way to explore how Python works.

Starting Python:

There are different ways to access Python’s command line depending on the operating system installed on your machine: If you’re using Windows, you can start the Python command line by clicking on its icon or menu item on the Start menu. You may also go to the folder containing the shortcut or the installed files and click on the Python command line. If you’re using GNU/Linux, UNIX, and Mac OS systems, you have to run the Terminal Tool and enter the Python command to start your session. We use commands to tell the computer what to do. When you want Python to do something for you, you have to instruct it by entering commands that it is familiar with. Python will then translate these commands to instructions that your computer or device can understand and execute.

To see how Python works:

You can use the print command to print the universal program “Hello, World!” 1. Open Python’s command line. 2. At the >>>prompt, type the following: print(“Hello, World!”) 3. Press enter to tell Python that you’re done with your command. 

Python responded correctly because you gave it a command in a format that it requires. To see how it responds when you ask it to print the same string using a wrong syntax for the print command, type and enter the following command on the Python command prompt:

                            Print(“Hello, World!”) This is how Python will respond: Syntax error: invalid syntax 

You’ll get syntax error messages whenever you enter invalid or incomplete statements. In this case, you typed print with a capital letter which is a big no to a case-sensitive language like Python. If you’re just using Python interactively, you can do away with the print command entirely by just typing your statement within quotes such as “Hello, World!”

Exiting Python:

To exit from Python, you can type any of these commands: quit() exit() Control-Z then press enter

Python Identifiers :

A Python Identifier is a name given to a function, class, variable, module, or other objects that you’ll be using in your Python program. Any entity you’ll be using in Python should be appropriately named or identified as they will form part of your program. Here are Python naming conventions that you should be aware of: An identifier can be a combination of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, underscores, and digits (0-9). Hence, the following are valid identifiers: myClass, my_variable, var_1, and print_hello_world. Special characters such as %, @, and $ are not allowed within identifiers.

An identifier should not begin with a number. Hence, 2variable is not valid, but variable2 is acceptable. Python is a case-sensitive language and this behavior extends to identifiers. Thus, Labor and labor are two distinct identifiers in Python. You cannot use Python keywords as identifiers. Class identifiers begin with an uppercase letter, but the rest of the identifiers begin in lowercase. You can use underscores to separate multiple words in your identifier. You should always choose identifiers that will make sense to you even after a long gap. Hence, while it is easy to set your variable to c = 2, you might find it more helpful for future reference if you use a longer but more relevant variable name such as count = 2.

Python Statements:Statements are instructions that a Python interpreter can execute. When you assign a value to a variable, say my_variable = “dog”, you’re making an assignment statement. An assignment statement may also be as short as c = 3. There are other kinds of statements in Python, like if statements, while statements, for statements, etc.

Advantages or Benefits of Python:

The Python language has diversified application in the software development companies such as in gaming, web frameworks and applications, language development, prototyping, graphic design applications, etc. This provides the language a higher plethora over other programming languages used in the industry. Some of its advantages are-

  • Extensive Support Libraries:It provides large standard libraries that include the areas like string operations, Internet, web service tools, operating system interfaces and protocols. Most of the highly used programming tasks are already scripted into it that limits the length of the codes to be written in Python.
  • Integration Feature:Python integrates the Enterprise Application Integration that makes it easy to develop Web services by invoking COM or COBRA components. It has powerful control capabilities as it calls directly through C, C++ or Java via Jython. Python also processes XML and other markup languages as it can run on all modern operating systems through same byte code.
  • Improved Programmer’s Productivity:The language has extensive support libraries and clean object-oriented designs that increase two to ten fold of programmer’s productivity while using the languages like Java, VB, Perl, C, C++ and C#.
  • Productivity:With its strong process integration features, unit testing framework and enhanced control capabilities contribute towards the increased speed for most applications and productivity of applications. It is a great option for building scalable multi-protocol network applications.

Limitations or Disadvantages of Python:

Python has varied advantageous features, and programmers prefer this language to other programming languages because it is easy to learn and code too. However, this language has still not made its place in some computing arenas that includes Enterprise Development Shops. Therefore, this language may not solve some of the enterprise solutions, and limitations include-

  • Difficulty in Using Other Languages:The Python lovers become so accustomed to its features and its extensive libraries, so they face problem in learning or working on other programming languages. Python experts may see the declaring of cast “values” or variable “types”, syntactic requirements of adding curly braces or semi colons as an onerous task.
  • Weak in Mobile Computing:Python has made its presence on many desktop and server platforms, but it is seen as a weak language for mobile computing. This is the reason very few mobile applications are built in it like Carbonnelle.
  • Gets Slow in Speed:Python executes with the help of an interpreter instead of the compiler, which causes it to slow down because compilation and execution help it to work normally. On the other hand, it can be seen that it is fast for many web applications too.
  • Run-time Errors:The Python language is dynamically typed so it has many design restrictions that are reported by some Python developers. It is even seen that it requires more testing time, and the errors show up when the applications are finally run.
  • Underdeveloped Database Access Layers:As compared to the popular technologies like JDBC and ODBC, the Python’s database access layer is found to be bit underdeveloped and primitive. However, it cannot be applied in the enterprises that need smooth interaction of complex legacy data.

Conclusion:

Python is a robust programming language and provides an easy usage of the code lines, maintenance can be handled in a great way, and debugging can be done easily too. It has gained importance across the globe as computer giant Google has made it one of its official programming languages.