Python, a high-level versatile programming language, was created by Guido van Rossum in 1991. Its simplicity and readability set it apart, making it an ideal choice for beginners and advanced users alike. Python’s popularity is further bolstered by its extensive use in diverse fields such as data science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and web development.
Why is Python So Popular?
Python is a very popular programming language. Let’s explore why Python is such a popular programming language.
- Simplicity and Readability: The syntax of the Python programming language is very easy to understand and readable for beginners. It has a similar structure to the English language. Python is a free-to-use language. It has large packages and libraries.
- Community and Support: Python has a large, active community of developers worldwide. This community includes many developers of skill levels. These developers provide easy access to documentation, guides, tutorials, and their own packages.
- Cross-Platform Compatibility: Python is platform-independent programming, which means code written in the Python programming language can run any operating system, such as Windows, Linux, MacOS, etc. This makes Python very attractive for developers.
- Libraries and Frameworks: The Python language has a rich ecosystem of libraries and frameworks. The following frameworks are very popular in libraries and frameworks: Django and Flask are popular frameworks in Python language for web development. Some popular libraries are NumPy, pandas, and matplotlib. These libraries are widely used in data analysis and scientific computing.
- Versatility: Python is versatile because it is used in various fields, such as data science and artificial Intelligence, web development, software development, and hacking.

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History of Python
Python is a general-purpose and widely used programming language. It was initially developed by Guido van Rossum in 1991 and further developed by the Python Software Foundation. Guido van Rossum started working in December 1989 at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in the Netherlands. He started working on this project as a Hobby because he was looking for an interesting project for Christmas. This project was inspired by ABC, a programming language he had worked on previously. The first version released of Python was Python 0.90 in February 1991. The first version of the Python project includes exception handling and functions.
How Does Python Work?
Python is an interpreted programming language. It means python programming language converts source code into a bytecode.
For example, Write a Python program in the hello.py file. Then, type the following command in your terminal or command prompt: “python hello.py.” This command runs the Python interpreter, which converts the hello.py file into the bytecode that our computer runs.
Writing Your First Program in Python
In this section, we will write a simple Python program that prints the numbers 1 to 10 using a for loop.
The demonstration of the following program is below.
Source Code:
for num in range(10):
print(num)
Output
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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Features of Python
In this section, we will examine the benefits of the Python programming language. It has many features, some of which are the most popular.
- Free and Open Source: The Python language is an open-source project. This means anyone can use and download Python on their computer system from the official website.
- Easy to Code: Python’s syntax is very similar to that of English, so anyone can learn Python programming easily and write code.
- Object-Oriented Programming: The Python language is object-oriented, which means it supports the four principles of object-oriented programming: Encapsulation, Inheritance, Polymorphism, and Abstraction.
- Python is a Portable Language. In the Python language, you can write code and run any operating system.
- Python is an integrated language. This means we can easily integrate it with other languages, such as C, C++, etc.
- Interpreted Language: Python is an interpreted programming language, which means it runs the code line by line, like other interpreted programming languages, such as C, C++, Java, etc.
Where is Python Used?
Python is a versatile programming language. This means that it can be used in various fields, such as web development, data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, task automation, etc. The most commonly used Python web development, task automation,
- Task Automation or scripting: If you perform the same task repeatedly, you can use the Python language. In programming, automation can be used for various purposes, like sending multiple HTTP requests to the server, creating folders in your computer system, and much more.
- Web Development: Python is often used in the back-end development of websites or applications. Many frameworks, such as Flask and Django, are available in Python for this purpose.
- Artificial Intelligence: Python is also used in Artificial Intelligence to train AI Models because It has a simpler syntax, is simple, and can be quickly learned.
- Search Engine Optimisation(SEO): Python also helps the SEO professional automate some tasks. It assists them in analysing large chunks of data. It can extract the data from the website.
Also Read: Why Python is Good for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Popular Python Frameworks and Libraries
Some popular frameworks exist in the Python language. Here, I am discussing some common frameworks and libraries.
- Web Development (Server Side): Django, Flask, Pyramid, CherryPy
- GUIs Based applications: Tkinter, PyGTK, PyQt, PyJs, etc
- Machine Learning: TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn, Matplotlib, Scipy etc.
- Mathematics: Numpy, Pandas, etc.
- Requests: A library for making HTTP requests.
- SQLAlchemy: This library works with SQL Databases.
- FAST API: It is used for building APIs
- NLTK: This library is used in NLP (Natural Language Processing)
- Pygame: It is a game development library.
- Streamlit: This library is used for building interactive web apps for machine learning and data science.
- BeautifulSoup: This library for web scraping and parsing HTML and XML.
Applications of Python
There are some common applications of the Python programming language:
- GUI-based desktop applications: Python programming language is also used for developing Graphical user Interface (GUI) applications.
- Web Frameworks and Applications: Python has some popular frameworks, like Django and Flask. These frameworks are used for writing backend code in Python.
- Operating System: Python is also used for developing operating systems and system tools.
- Language development: Python language also used for developing new programming languages.
- Scripting: Python is widely used for writing scripts to automate some tasks.
Python vs. Other Programming Languages
The following table gives you a comparison of Python language with other programming languages, C, C++, and Java, in table format.
| Features | Python | C | C++ | Java |
| Type | Interpreted | Compiled | Compiled | Compiled |
| Program | OOP language | Procedural structured | OOP language | OOP Language |
| Syntax | Simple | Complex | Complex | Complex |
| Popularity | High | High | High | High |
| Use Cases | In web development, Artificial Intelligence | System programming, embedded systems, game development | System Programming, game development, high performance | Large-scale applications, enterprise software |
| Frameworks/ Libraries | Django, Flask, FAST API | Standard Library | Standard Library, Boost | Spring, Hibernate |
| Community | Active Community | Active Community | Active Community | Active Community |
Python 2 Vs. Python 3
In this section, we will see the difference between python2 and python3. The following table gives you some common differences between python2 and python3.
| Feature | Python 2 | Python 3 |
| Print Statement Syntax | In Python 2, we can use the print function without the parenthesis function. | In python 3, the print() function has parenthesis before using this function. |
| Unicode Support | Python 2 required additional modules for Unicode | Python 3 provides better support as compared to Python 2 for Unicode support |
| Backward Compatibility | You have to modify the Python 2 code for running in Python 3 | Python 3 is not backwards compatible with the Python 2 version | Division Result | In Python 2, when we divide two numbers, It will return an integer | In Python 3, we will get the float number if we divide two numbers in Python 3
| Pros | Cons | |
| Python is a very beginner-friendly language. It means anyone can learn Python easily. | Python is an interpreted programming language. It means Python is very slow compared to other compiled languages. | |
| Python has a big bunch of libraries and frameworks. That makes Python a robust programming language | Python is less secure because It is a dynamic programming language as compared to other programming languages. | We cannot create mobile apps using the Python Language. |
| Python is a very scalable language. It means, It can handle large data programs. | Python is a high-memory consumption language so it is not good for highly intensive tasks which require high memory. |
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Updated on August 5, 2024
