XI- PYTHON : INTRODUCTION

PYTHON

 INTRODUCTION:

Python is a general-purpose language ,powerful high-level, object-oriented  programming language created by Guido van Rossum.The design began in the late 1980s and was first released in February 1991. It has simple easy-to-use syntax, making it the perfect language for someone trying to learn  computer programming for the first time. 

In late 1980s, Guido Van Rossum was working on the Amoeba distributed operating system group. He wanted to use an interpreted language like ABC (ABC has simple easy-to-understand syntax) that could access the Amoeba system calls. So, he decided to create a language that was extensible. This led to design of a new language which was later named Python.

It has wide range of applications from Web development (like: Django and Bottle ), scientific and mathematical computing (Orange, SymPy, NumPy) to desktop graphical user Interfaces    (Pygame, Panda3D).

Why the name Python?

     No. It wasn't named after a dangerous snake. Rossum was fan of a comedy series from late seventies. The name "Python" was adopted from the same series "Monty Python's Flying Circus".

Features OF PYTHON

• A simple language which is easier to learn :- Python has a very simple and elegant syntax. It's much easier to read and write Python programs compared to other languages like: C++, Java, C#. Python makes programming fun and allows you to focus on the solution rather than syntax. If you are a newbie, it's a great choice to start your journey with Python.
• Free and open-source :- We can freely use and distribute Python, even for commercial use. Not only can we use and distribute softwares written in it, we can even make changes to the Python's source code.
• Portability:- We can move Python programs from one platform to another, and run it without any changes. It runs seamlessly on almost all platforms including Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
• Extensible and Embedded:- Suppose an application requires high performance. We can easily combine pieces of C/C++ or other languages with Python code. This will give our application high performance as well as scripting capabilities which other languages may not provide out of the box.
• A high-level, interpreted language:-Unlike C/C++, we don't have to worry about daunting tasks like memory management, garbage collection and so on. Likewise, when we run Python code, it automatically converts our code to the language our computer understands. We don't need to worry about any lower-level operations.
• Large standard libraries to solve common tasks :-Python has a number of standard libraries which makes life of a programmer much easier since We don't have to write all the code yourself. For example: Need to connect MySQL database import MySql db.
• Object-oriented :- Everything in Python is an object. Object oriented programming (OOP) helps you solve a complex problem. With OOP, we are able to divide these complex problems into smaller sets by creating objects.