Introduction to Python

Python is an object-oriented interpreted computer programming language. It is also a powerful and complete general-purpose language. It has a development history of more than ten years and is mature and stable. Python has the richest and most powerful class library among scripting languages, which is enough to support most daily applications. This language has a very simple and clear syntax, is suitable for completing various high-level tasks, and can run on almost all operating systems. At present, related technologies based on this language are developing rapidly, the number of users has expanded rapidly, and there are many related resources.

Python official website: http://www.python.org/

Python download address: http://www.python.org/ftp/python/

Features of Python

Simple

Python is a language that represents simplicity. Reading a good Python program feels like reading English, even though the English requirements are very strict! This pseudocode nature of Python is one of its greatest strengths. It allows you to focus on solving problems rather than figuring out the language itself.

Easy to learn

As you are about to see, Python is extremely easy to get started with. As mentioned earlier, Python has an extremely simple syntax.

Free, open source

Python is one of FLOSS (Free/Open Source Software). Simply put, you are free to distribute copies of this software, read its source code, make changes to it, and use parts of it in new free software. FLOSS is based on the concept of a group sharing knowledge. This is one of the reasons why Python is so great - it was created and constantly improved by a group of people who want to see a better Python.

High level language

When you write a program in Python, you don't have to think about low-level details like how to manage the memory used by your program.

Portability

Due to its open source nature, Python has been ported to many platforms (with modifications to enable it to work on different platforms). If you are careful to avoid using system-dependent features, then all of your Python programs will run without modification on any of the platforms listed below.

These platforms include Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, Macintosh, Solaris, OS/2, Amiga, AROS, AS/400, BeOS, OS/390, z/OS, Palm OS, QNX, VMS, Psion, Acom RISC OS, VxWorks, PlayStation, Sharp Zaurus, Windows CE and even PocketPC!

Explanatory

​This requires some explanation.

A program written in a compiled language such as C or C++ can be converted from a source file (i.e., C or C++ language) into a language used by your computer (binary code, i.e., 0s and 1s). This process is done through the compiler and different flags and options. When you run your program, the linker/reloader software copies your program from the hard drive into memory and runs it.

Programs written in Python do not need to be compiled into binary code. You can run programs directly from source code. Inside the computer, the Python interpreter converts the source code into an intermediate form called bytecode, which is then translated into the machine language used by the computer and run. In fact, all this makes using Python simpler since you no longer need to worry about how to compile the program, how to ensure that the correct libraries are linked and reproduced, etc. Since you only need to copy your Python program to another computer and it will work, this also makes your Python program more portable.

Object-oriented

Python supports both process-oriented programming and object-oriented programming. In procedural languages, programs are built from procedures or simply functions that are reusable code. In object-oriented languages, programs are built from objects that combine data and functionality. Compared to other major languages ​​such as C++ and Java, Python implements object-oriented programming in a very powerful and simple way.

Scalability

If you need a critical piece of your code to run faster or want certain algorithms to be private, you can write parts of your program in C or C++ and use them in your Python program.

Embeddability

You can embed Python into your C/C++ programs to provide scripting capabilities to your program users.

Rich library

The Python standard library is indeed huge. It can help you with various tasks, including regular expressions, document generation, unit testing, threads, databases, web browsers, CGI, FTP, email, XML, XML-RPC, HTML, WAV files, password systems, GUI (Graphical User Interface), Tk and other system-related operations.

Remember, all of these features are available as long as Python is installed. This is called Python's "full-featured" philosophy. In addition to the standard library, there are many other high-quality libraries, such as wxPython, Twisted, and the Python imaging library, among others.

Summary

Python is indeed a very exciting and powerful language. It combines high performance with features that make writing programs easy and fun.

Related documents: The difference between Python3.x and Python2.x

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