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Module 1 - Section 0 - Introduction

What is Python

Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language. It emphasizes code readability, and allows programmers to write applications in fewer lines of code than would be possible in other languages such as C.

    

    

Python is a clear and powerful object-oriented programming language, comparable to Perl, Ruby, Scheme, or Java.

Some of Python's notable features:

  • Uses an elegant syntax, making the programs you write easier to read.
  • Is an easy-to-use language that makes it simple to get your program working. This makes Python ideal for prototype development and other ad-hoc programming tasks, without compromising maintainability.
  • Comes with a large standard library that supports many common programming tasks such as connecting to web servers, searching text with regular expressions, reading and modifying files.
  • Python's interactive mode makes it easy to test short snippets of code. There's also a bundled development environment called IDLE.
  • Is easily extended by adding new modules implemented in a compiled language such as C or C++.
  • Can also be embedded into an application to provide a programmable interface.

  • Runs anywhere, including Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and Unix.

  • Is free software in two senses. It doesn't cost anything to download or use Python, or to include it in your application. Python can also be freely modified and re-distributed, because while the language is copyrighted it's available under an open source license.

Some programming-language features of Python are:

  • A variety of basic data types are available: numbers (floating point, complex, and unlimited-length long integers), strings (both ASCII and Unicode), lists, and dictionaries.
  • Python supports object-oriented programming with classes and multiple inheritance.
  • Code can be grouped into modules and packages.
  • The language supports raising and catching exceptions, resulting in cleaner error handling.
  • Data types are strongly and dynamically typed. Mixing incompatible types (e.g. attempting to add a string and a number) causes an exception to be raised, so errors are caught sooner.
  • Python contains advanced programming features such as generators and list comprehensions.
  • Python's automatic memory management frees you from having to manually allocate and free memory in your code.