Introduction to Python

Python is a widely used general-purpose, high level programming language. It was

created by Guido van Rossum in 1991 and further developed by the Python Software
Foundation. It was designed with an emphasis on code readability, and its syntax
allows programmers to express their concepts in fewer lines of code.
Python is a programming language that lets you work quickly and integrate systems
more efficiently.
There are two major Python versions: Python 2 and Python 3. Both are quite
different.

Beginning with Python programming:

1) Finding an Interpreter:

Before we start Python programming, we need to have an interpreter to interpret and

run our programs.
Windows: There are many interpreters available freely to run Python scripts like
IDLE (Integrated Development Environment) that comes bundled with the Python
software downloaded from http://python.org/.
Linux: Python comes preinstalled with popular Linux distros such as Ubuntu and
Fedora. To check which version of Python you’re running, type “python” in the
terminal emulator. The interpreter should start and print the version number.
macOS: Generally, Python 2.7 comes bundled with macOS. You’ll have to manually
install Python 3 from http://python.org/.

Reason for increasing popularity

1. Emphasis on code readability, shorter codes, ease of writing

2. Programmers can express logical concepts in fewer lines of code in
comparison to languages such as C++ or Java.
3. Python supports multiple programming paradigms, like object-oriented,
imperative and functional programming or procedural.
4. There exists inbuilt functions for almost all of the frequently used
concepts.
5. Philosophy is “Simplicity is the best”.

LANGUAGE FEATURES

 Interpreted
  There are no separate compilation and execution steps like C
and C++.
 Directly run the program from the source code.
 Internally, Python converts the source code into an intermediate
form called bytecodes which is then translated into native
language of specific computer to run it.
 No need to worry about linking and loading with libraries, etc.
 Platform Independent
 Python programs can be developed and executed on multiple
operating system platforms.
 Python can be used on Linux, Windows, Macintosh, Solaris and
many more.
 Free and Open Source; Redistributable
 High-level Language
 In Python, no need to take care about low-level details such as
managing the memory used by the program.
 Simple
 Closer to English language;Easy to Learn
 More emphasis on the solution to the problem rather than the
syntax
 Embeddable
 Python can be used within C/C++ program to give scripting
capabilities for the program’s users.
 Robust:
 Exceptional handling features
 Memory management techniques in built
 Rich Library Support
 The Python Standard Library is very vast.
 Known as the “batteries included” philosophy of Python ;It can
help do various things involving regular expressions,
documentation generation, unit testing, threading, databases,
web browsers, CGI, email, XML, HTML, WAV files,
cryptography, GUI and many more.
 Besides the standard library, there are various other high-quality
libraries such as the Python Imaging Library which is an
amazingly simple image manipulation library.
Python vs JAVA
Python Java

Dynamically Typed Statically Typed

 No need to declare  All variable names (along with
anything. An assignment their types) must be explicitly
statement binds a name to declared. Attempting to assign an
an object, and the object object of the wrong type to a
Python Java

can be of any type. variable name triggers a type

 No type casting is exception.
required when using  Type casting is required when
container objects using container objects.

Concise Express much in limited

Verbose Contains more words
words

Compact Less Compact

Uses Indentation for structuring code Uses braces for structuring code

The classical Hello World program illustrating the relative verbosity of a Java
Program and Python Program
Java Code
public class HelloWorld
{
public static void main (String[] args)
{
System.out.println("Hello, world!");
}
}

Python Code
print("Hello, world!")

Similarity with Java

 Require some form of runtime on your system (JVM/Python runtime)
 Can probably be compiled to executables without the runtime (this is
situational, none of them are designed to work this way)

Python has been successfully embedded in a number of software products as a

scripting language.
1. GNU Debugger uses Python as a pretty printer to show complex structures
such as C++ containers.
2. Python has also been used in artificial intelligence
3. Python is often used for natural language processing tasks.
Current Applications of Python
1. A number of Linux distributions use installers written in Python example
in Ubuntu we have the Ubiquity
 2. Python has seen extensive use in the information security industry,
including in exploit development.
3. Raspberry Pi– single board computer uses Python as its principal user-
programming language.
4. Python is now being used Game Development areas also.
Pros:
1. Ease of use
2. Multi-paradigm Approach
Cons:
1. Slow speed of execution compared to C,C++
2. Absence from mobile computing and browsers
3. For the C,C++ programmers switching to python can be irritating as the
language requires proper indentation of code. Certain variable names
commonly used like sum are functions in python. So C, C++ programmers
have to look out for these.
Industrial Importance
Most of the companies are now looking for candidates who know about Python
Programming. Those having the knowledge of python may have more chances of
impressing the interviewing panel. So I would suggest that beginners should start
learning python and excel in it.
Python is a high-level, interpreted, and general-purpose dynamic programming
language that focuses on code readability. It has fewer steps when compared to Java
and C. It was founded in 1991 by developer Guido Van Rossum. Python ranks
among the most popular and fastest-growing languages in the world. Python is a
powerful, flexible, and easy-to-use language. In addition, the community is very
active there. It is used in many organizations as it supports multiple programming
paradigms. It also performs automatic memory management.

Advantages :
1. Presence of third-party modules
2. Extensive support libraries(NumPy for numerical calculations, Pandas for
data analytics etc)
3. Open source and community development
4. Versatile, Easy to read, learn and write
5. User-friendly data structures
6. High-level language
7. Dynamically typed language(No need to mention data type based on the
value assigned, it takes data type)
8. Object-oriented language
9. Portable and Interactive
10. Ideal for prototypes – provide more functionality with less coding
11. Highly Efficient(Python’s clean object-oriented design provides enhanced
process control, and the language is equipped with excellent text
processing and integration capabilities, as well as its own unit testing
framework, which makes it more efficient.)
 12. (IoT)Internet of Things Opportunities
13. Interpreted Language
14. Portable across Operating systems

Applications :
1. GUI based desktop applications
2. Graphic design, image processing applications, Games, and Scientific/
computational Applications
3. Web frameworks and applications
4. Enterprise and Business applications
5. Operating Systems
6. Education
7. Database Access
8. Language Development
9. Prototyping
10. Software Development

Organizations using Python :

1. Google(Components of Google spider and Search Engine)
2. Yahoo(Maps)
3. YouTube
4. Mozilla
5. Dropbox
6. Microsoft
7. Cisco
8. Spotify
9. Quora …