What type of programming language is python?

Python (UK pronunciation: /ˈpaɪθən/ US pronunciation: /ˈpaɪθɑːn/) is a widely used interpreted, high-level programming, general-purpose programming language, created by Guido Van Rossu Created by Tom, the first edition was released in 1991. It can be regarded as an improvement of LISP (adding some advantages of other programming languages, such as object-oriented).

Python's design philosophy emphasizes code readability and concise syntax (especially the use of space indentation to divide code blocks instead of using braces or keywords).

Compared to C or Java, Python allows developers to express ideas with less code. Whether it is a small or large program, the language attempts to make the structure of the program clear and unambiguous.

Like dynamically typed programming languages ​​such as Scheme, Ruby, Perl, and Tcl, Python has a dynamic type system and garbage collection functions, can automatically manage memory usage, and supports multiple programming paradigms, including object-oriented and imperative. , functional and procedural programming. It has a huge and extensive standard library.

The Python interpreter itself can run on almost all operating systems. One of Python's interpreters, CPython, is written in C and is a community-driven free software currently managed by the Python Software Foundation.

Python is a completely object-oriented language. Functions, modules, numbers, and strings are all objects. And it fully supports inheritance, overloading, derivation, and multiple inheritance, which is beneficial to enhance the reusability of source code. Python supports overloaded operators, so Python also supports generic design. Compared with Lisp, a traditional functional programming language, Python only provides limited support for functional programming. There are two standard libraries (functools, itertools) that provide functional programming tools similar to those in Haskell and Standard ML.

Although Python may be roughly classified as a "scripting language", it is actually widely used by some large-scale software development projects such as Zope, Mnet and BitTorrent, and Google.

Supporters of Python prefer to call it a high-end dynamic programming language. The reason is that "scripting language" generally refers to a language that only performs simple programming tasks, such as shell script, VBScript, etc., which can only handle simple tasks. The programming language is not comparable to Python.

Python itself is designed to be extensible. Not all features and functionality are integrated into the language core. Python provides a rich API and tools so that programmers can easily use C, C, and Cython to write extension modules. The Python compiler itself can also be integrated into other programs that require a scripting language.

Therefore, many people use Python as a "glue language". Use Python to integrate and encapsulate programs written in other languages. Many projects within Google, such as the Google Application Service Engine, use C to write parts with extremely high performance requirements, and then use Python or Java/Go to call the corresponding modules.

Alex Martelli, author of "Python Technical Manual" said: "It's hard to say, but in 2004, Python was already used internally at Google, and Google recruited many Python experts, but here They have decided to use Python before. Their purpose is to use Python as much as possible, and switch to C when necessary; use C when controlling hardware, and use Python during rapid development."

The design philosophy of Python is " Elegant, clear, simple. The philosophy of Python developers is "use one way, preferably only one way to do one thing", so it is very different from other languages ​​​​that have obvious personal styles. When designing the Python language, if faced with multiple choices, Python developers will generally reject fancy syntax and choose syntax that clearly has no or little ambiguity. These guidelines are called "Python Maxims". Run import this within the Python interpreter to get the complete list.

Related recommendations: "Python Tutorial"

The above is the detailed content of What type of programming language is python?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!