History of Python
HISTORY OF PYTHON
Python became a popular programming language, widely used in both industry and academia because of its simple, concise and extensive support of libraries. It is a general purpose, interpreted and object-oriented programming language. Python source code is available under General Public License (GPL) and maintained by a core development team at the same institude.
Python goals
In 1999, Guido van Rossum defined his goals for Python:
- an easy and intuitive language just as powerful as those of the major competitors;
- open source, so anyone can contribute to its development;
- code that is as understandable as plain English;
- suitable for everyday tasks, allowing for short development times.
About 20 years later, it is clear that all these intentions have been fulfilled. Some sources say that Python is the third-most popular programming language in the world, while others claim it’s the fifth.
Why Python?
What makes Python so special? How does it happen that programmers, young and old, experienced and novice, want to use it? How did it happen that large companies adopted Python and implemented their flagship products using it?
COBOL, C#, C, C++ and Java are a few of the many programming languages available in information and technology today. One common question that beginners in programming often ask is, 'Why use Python when there are so many programming languages?' While on one had it may just be a matter of personal preference, there are some very well-known advantages of Python which make it a popular programming language. These given below.
1. Readability: Developer's readability of code is one of the most crucial factors in programming. The longest part of any software's life cycle is its maintenance. Therefore, if a software has a highly readable code, then it is easier to maintain. Readability also helps a programmer to reuse the existing code with ease to maintain and update a software. Python offers more readability of code when compared to other programming languages.
2. Portability: Python is platform independent, i.e. its programs run on all platforms. The language is designed for portability.
3. Vast support of libraries: Python has a large collection of in-built functionalities known as standard library functions. Python also supports various third-party software like NumPy. NumPY is an extension, i.e. it provides for large, multidimensional arrays and matrices.
4. Software integration: An important aspect of Python is that it can easily extend, communicate and integrate with several other languages. For example, Python code can easily invoke libraries of C and C++ programming languages. It can also be used to communicate with Java and .net components. Python can sometimes act as an intermediary or agent between two applications.
5. Developer productivity: Compared to other programming languages, Python is a dynamically typed language, which means there is no need to declare variables explicitly. Again, there are various other features of Python due to which the size of code written is typically smaller or half of the code written is some other languages, such as C, C++ or Java.
As the size of code is reduced quite a bit, there is less to type and debug, The amount of time needed to compile and execute is also very less as compared to other programming languages. Python programs run immediately, i.e. without taking much time to link and compile.
There are many reasons – we’ve listed some of them already, but let’s enumerate them again in a more practical manner:
- it’s easy to learn – the time needed to learn Python is shorter than for many other languages; this means that it’s possible to start the actual programming faster;
- it’s easy to teach – the teaching workload is smaller than that needed by other languages; this means that the teacher can put more emphasis on general (language-independent) programming techniques, not wasting energy on exotic tricks, strange exceptions and incomprehensible rules;
- it’s easy to use for writing new software – it’s often possible to write code faster when using Python;
- it’s easy to understand – it’s also often easier to understand someone else’s code faster if it is written in Python;
- it’s easy to obtain, install and deploy – Python is free, open and multiplatform not all languages can boast that.
Python in Action
Where can we see Python in action? We see it every day and almost everywhere.
It’s used extensively to implement complex Internet services like search engines, cloud storage and tools, social media and so on. Whenever you use any of these services, you are actually very close to Python, although you wouldn’t know it.
Many developing tools are implemented in Python.
More and more everyday use applications are being written in Python. Lots of scientists have abandoned expensive proprietary tools and switched to Python.
Lots of IT project testers have started using Python to carry out repeatable test procedures. The list is long.
Python Examples
Python is a great choice for:
- Web and Internet development (e.g., Django and Pyramid frameworks, Flask and Bottle micro-frameworks)
- Scientific and numeric computing (e.g., SciPy – a collection of packages for the purposes of mathematics, science, and engineering; Ipython – an interactive shell that features editing and recording of work sessions)
- Education (it’s a brilliant language for teaching programming!)
- Desktop GUIs (e.g., wxWidgets, Kivy, Qt)
- Software Development (build control, management, and testing – Scons, Buildbot, Apache Gump, Roundup, Trac)
- Business applications (ERP and e-commerce systems – Odoo, Tryton)
- Games (e.g., Battlefield series, Sid Meier\’s Civilization IV…), websites and services (e.g., Dropbox, UBER, Pinterest, BuzzFeed…)
- And that’s just the beginning
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