Python - Features
Python is a feature rich high-level, interpreted, interactive and
object-oriented scripting language. This tutorial will list down some
of the important features of Python:
Features of Python
Let's highlight some of the important features of Python that make
it widely popular. Apart from these 10 features where are number of
other interesting features which make Python most of the
developer's first choice.
The following are the features of Python programming language –
1. Easy to Learn
This is one of the most important reasons for the popularity of
Python. Python has a limited set of keywords. Its features such as
simple syntax, usage of indentation to avoid clutter of curly
brackets and dynamic typing that doesn't necessitate prior
declaration of variable help a beginner to learn Python quickly and
easily.
2. Interpreter Based
Instructions in any programming languages must be translated into
machine code for the processor to execute them. Programming
languages are either compiler based or interpreter based.
In case of a compiler, a machine language version of the entire
source program is generated. The conversion fails even if there is a
single erroneous statement. Hence, the development process is
tedious for the beginners. The C family languages (including C, C+
+, Java, C# etc) are compiler based.
Python is an interpreter based language. The interpreter takes one
instruction from the source code at a time, translates it into
machine code and executes it. Instructions before the first
occurrence of error are executed. With this feature, it is easier to
debug the program and thus proves useful for the beginner level
programmer to gain confidence gradually. Python therefore is a
beginner-friendly language.
3. Interactive
Standard Python distribution comes with an interactive shell that
works on the principle of REPL (Read – Evaluate – Print – Loop).
The shell presents a Python prompt >>>. You can type any valid
Python expression and press Enter. Python interpreter immediately
returns the response and the prompt comes back to read the next
expression.
>>> 2*3+1
7
>>> print ("Hello World")
Hello World
The interactive mode is especially useful to get familiar with a
library and test out its functionality. You can try out small code
snippets in interactive mode before writing a program.
4. MultiParadigm
Python is a completely object-oriented language. Everything in a
Python program is an object. However, Python conveniently
encapsulates its object orientation to be used as an imperative or
procedural language – such as C. Python also provides certain
functionality that resembles functional programming. Moreover,
certain third-party tools have been developed to support other
programming paradigms such as aspect-oriented and logic
programming.
5. Standard Library
Even though it has a very few keywords (only Thirty Five), Python
software is distributed with a standard library made of large number
of modules and packages. Thus Python has out of box support for
programming needs such as serialization, data compression,
internet data handling, and many more. Python is known for its
batteries included approach.
6.Open Source and Cross Platform
Python's standard distribution can be downloaded
from https://www.python.org/downloads/ without any restrictions.
You can download pre-compiled binaries for various operating
system platforms. In addition, the source code is also freely
available, which is why it comes under open source category.
Python software (along with the documentation) is distributed under
Python Software Foundation License. It is a BSD style permissive
software license and compatible to GNU GPL (General Public
License).
Python is a cross-platform language. Pre-compiled binaries are
available for use on various operating system platforms such
as Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android OS. The reference
implementation of Python is called CPython and is written in C. You
can download the source code and compile it for your OS platform.
A Python program is first compiled to an intermediate platform
independent byte code. The virtual machine inside the interpreter
then executes the byte code. This behaviour makes Python a cross-
platform language, and thus a Python program can be easily ported
from one OS platform to other.
7. GUI Applications
Python's standard distribution has an excellent graphics library
called TKinter. It is a Python port for the vastly popular GUI toolkit
called TCL/Tk. You can build attractive user-friendly GUI
applications in Python. GUI toolkits are generally written in C/C++.
Many of them have been ported to Python. Examples
are PyQt, WxWidgets, PySimpleGUI etc.
8. Database Connectivity
Almost any type of database can be used as a backend with the
Python application. DB-API is a set of specifications for database
driver software to let Python communicate with a relational
database. With many third party libraries, Python can also work
with NoSQL databases such as MongoDB.
9. Extensible
The term extensibility implies the ability to add new features or
modify existing features. As stated earlier, CPython (which is
Python's reference implementation) is written in C. Hence one can
easily write modules/libraries in C and incorporate them in the
standard library. There are other implementations of Python such as
Jython (written in Java) and IPython (written in C#). Hence, it is
possible to write and merge new functionality in these
implementations with Java and C# respectively.
10. Active Developer Community
As a result of Python's popularity and open-source nature, a large
number of Python developers often interact with online forums and
conferences. Python Software Foundation also has a significant
member base, involved in the organization's mission to "Promote,
Protect, and Advance the Python Programming Language"
Python also enjoys a significant institutional support. Major IT
companies Google, Microsoft, and Meta contribute immensely by
preparing documentation and other resources.
More Features of Python
Apart from the above-mentioned features, Python has another big
list of good features, few are listed below −
It supports functional and structured programming methods as
well as OOP.
It can be used as a scripting language or can be compiled to
byte-code for building large applications.
It provides very high-level dynamic data types and supports
dynamic type checking.
It supports automatic garbage collection.
It can be easily integrated with C, C++, COM, ActiveX, CORBA,
and Java.
