Python: About

About Python

Python is a free, interpreted, high-level, general-purpose programming language. It was created by Guido van Rossum and first released in 1991. Van Rossum was given the title "Python's Benevolent Dictator For Life" by the Python community. However, in July 2018, Van Rossum stepped down as the leader in the language community.

Python supports both procedural and object-oriented programming. Among the language's core philosophies is code readability and simplicity. Neverthless, Python is capable of powerful progamming and has become not only the most commony used language to teach introduction to programming in college courses, but a popular in industry as well.

As of March 2018, the Python Package Index (PyPI), the official repository for third-party Python software, contains over 130,000 packages with a wide range of functionality, including:

  • Graphical user interfaces
  • Web frameworks
  • Multimedia
  • Databases
  • Networking
  • Test frameworks
  • Automation
  • Web scraping
  • Documentation
  • System administration
  • Scientific computing
  • Text processing
  • Image processing

A February 7, 2019 ZDNet article titled: "Python programming language's top uses, tools: Developers reveal their choices" cited a "Python Software Foundation/JetBrains" study showing the top uses of Python in 2018, shown below.

  • Data analysis - 58%
  • Web development - 52%
  • DevOps / System Administration / Writing automated scripts - 43%
  • Machine learning - 38%
  • Programming of web parsers, scrappers, and crawlers - 37%
  • Software testing / Writing automated tests - 32%
  • Educational purposes - 28%
  • Software prototyping - 27%
  • Networking programming - 20%
  • Computer graphics - 9%
  • Embedded development - 8%
  • Game development - 6%
  • Mobile development - 5%
  • Multimedia application development - 3%

Many subsequent languages were influenced by Python. Among these are:

  • Boo
  • Cobra
  • CoffeeScript
  • Go
  • Groovy
  • Julia
  • Swift