What is Python and what is it used for?

 In this article, we'll explain what Python is, what it can be used for, and why it's so popular. To the question "What is Python?" there is a simple answer which you can find in the first paragraph of his wikipedia article. But it won't tell you why Python is consistently ranked as one of the most popular programming languages, or why it can be used for so many different tasks, and why it's so damn good at just about all of those areas. But we want to answer these questions, so let's take a little dive and find out what makes Python so unique, popular, and interesting.

Introduction to Python

In a nutshell, Python is a high-level programming language created in 1991 by Guido van Rossum. It has since been released under an open source license, making it free for anyone who wants to use or modify the software.

Python is known for its ease of use, and its syntax allows programmers to express concepts in fewer lines of code than would be possible in languages ​​such as C++ or Java.

Python Improvement Proposals (PEP)

One feature of Python that sets it apart from other programming languages ​​is the inclusion of so-called "Python Improvement Proposals" (PEPs). PEPs are documents that describe proposed language changes and provide a mechanism for the community to contribute to those proposals. Any member of the community can submit a PEP, which then goes through a process of discussion and refinement before being accepted or rejected by the core Python developers.

This process ensures that new features added to the language are well designed and widely supported by the community before they are incorporated into the main Python code.

Python Day

One such PEP has become legendary: "PEP 20 - The Zen of Python", written by CPython core (Python reference implementation) developer Tim Peters.

Zen of Python provides design guidance for the language and related libraries, emphasizing the importance of beauty, simplicity, and clarity:

Beautiful is better than ugly.

Explicit is better than implicit.

Simple is better than complex.

Complex is better than complicated.

Flat is better than nested.

Sparse is better than dense.

Readability counts.

Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules.

Although practicality beats purity.

Errors should never pass silently.

Unless explicitly silenced.

In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.

There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.

Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.

Now is better than never.

Although never is often better than *right* now.

If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.

If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea.

Namespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those!

 Pythonists, the "Pythonic Way", and a benevolent dictator for life

One of the most common questions that beginner Python programmers ask is, "What is the 'Pythonic Way' for doing X?" It usually refers to a particular way of solving a problem that uses features of the language in a particularly elegant or efficient way.

And while there are often multiple ways to accomplish any given task in Python, experienced Pythonists often have strong opinions about what constitutes good code, and they are not shy about sharing their opinion! As Guido van Rossum, the benevolent Python Dictator for Life (BDFL), said, "There's only one way to do it, and that's why it works."

What is Python used for?

We will now look at what Python is commonly used for.

Web development

Python is often used for web development. Popular Python web frameworks include Django and Flask, and many major sites, including Reddit and Instagram, are built using Python.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence

Python is very popular for machine learning and artificial intelligence in general, and packages like TensorFlow and scikit-learn provide powerful tools for these purposes.

Also, many other popular machine learning libraries such as Keras and PyTorch are written in Python.

Data Science and Data Analysis

Python is also widely used in data science and data analysis. The pandas library provides powerful tools for working with tabular data, and the matplotlib library is a popular tool for creating visualizations of this data.

Jupyter, a notebook environment for Python, is also widely used by data scientists for exploratory analysis and creating reproducible research.

Software testing

Python is widely used in software testing. The unittest module is a built-in library that provides tools for this purpose, and the pytest framework is a popular third-party alternative to unittest.

Game development

Python is also used in game development, with packages such as PyGame providing functionality for creating games and other graphical applications, and is often used for scripting in larger game engines such as Unity (docs and Unreal Engine 4 (docs)).

Why should you learn Python programming?

Let's look at the reasons why you should consider learning to program in Python.

Python is easy to use

Python is considered one of the easiest languages ​​to learn. This is because Python code is very easy to read and execute, and can be written in fewer lines than in other languages. The language has a concise syntax that allows programmers to express concepts in fewer lines of code than would be possible in other languages. This means that beginners can quickly learn the basics of Python coding, while experienced programmers can save time by writing more efficient code.

But even though Python is easy to learn, rest assured that it is also powerful enough to create professional-grade applications.

open source python

Anyone can contribute to the development of Python, and there is no licensing fee to use or develop in the language.

It also means that there is a huge community of developers who are willing to help beginners get started and are constantly working to improve the language. And since it's open source, you can be sure that there will always be free tools and libraries available to use with Python.

Why is Python so popular?

Python is so versatile that it can be used to develop both desktop and web applications. It is easy to learn for beginners and has powerful libraries for data analysis and machine learning.

In fact, let's take a quick look at some of its key features:

• Object-oriented: Code can be organized into classes and modules. This makes it easier to reuse code and create new libraries.
• Interpreted: Python does not need to be compiled before running. This makes development faster and easier because you don't have to wait for the compilation process to complete every time you make a change.
• High Level: Python abstracts away many implementation details (e.g. memory management) so that programmers can focus on the bigger picture.
• Dynamic: Variables can be created and destroyed at run time. This speeds up development as you don't have to declare variables beforehand.
• Multi-paradigm: including functional, procedural, and object-oriented. This makes it easy to switch between different programming styles depending on the task at hand.
• Portability: Python code can be run on any platform that supports an interpreter, making it easy to port code from one platform to another.

Six Useful Python Tips

Let's look at a few tips on how to get the most out of Python.

1. Use proper indentation

Python is very picky about indentation. All lines of code that need to run together must be indented the same way, otherwise Python will throw an error. It could be four spaces or one tab, but whatever you choose, be consistent!

2. Don't forget colons

After declaring a for loop or an if statement, don't forget to put a colon at the end of the line! Otherwise, Python will give you an error.

3. Use proper grammar in variable names

This may seem like a picky rule, but your code is actually much easier to read for other people (and for yourself when you come back to it later!). Stick to the use of lowercase letters and underscores ( _ ) in variable names, and try to make sure they describe what is stored in the variable.

4. Use the built-in help feature

Python has a lot of functions and methods (pre-written code that you can use to perform certain tasks) and it can be hard to remember them all. That's what this help function is for! If you ever forget how a certain function works or what arguments it takes, just type help(function_name) in your Python shell.

5. Use and abuse the standard library

The standard library is a set of modules that are included with every new installation of Python. These modules provide a ton of functionality, and there's a good chance that everything you're trying to do is already implemented in the standard library.

6. Join the community

There are many ways to get involved in the community, whether it's reporting bugs or adding new features via pull requests on GitHub, answering questions on Stack Overflow, or speaking at conferences and meetups around the world.

Conclusion

Python deserves every attention it gets. It is a general-purpose language that can be used to develop desktop graphics applications and websites. You can also use Python to develop complex scientific and numerical applications. Python is designed with features that make it easy to analyze and visualize data.

And I'll say it again: not only will participation make you better at Python (because you'll learn from other people), but it'll also help make Python better for everyone else!