what is python
For those looking for buzzwords, Python is a
high-level, interpreted, reflective, dynamically-typed, open-source,
multi-paradigm, general-purpose programming language. I could explain each of
those terms in detail, but in the end the result would still not convey what
makes Python programming different from other languages. There is no one thing
in Python that is not found in other languages, but it is the elegant
design and combination of these features into a single package that makes
Python such a pleasure to use.
Python is sometimes described as a scripting language, for
the simple reason that thousands of working programmers daily use the
language in this fashion. That is, they use Python as a tool to quickly
and easily glue together software applications and components written in
many different languages. But such a categorization is far too narrow, and
Python can justly be described as a general-purpose language, one that
can you can use for almost any programming task you would like to perform.
This is not to say that Python is the only
programming language you will ever need or will ever learn. A working
computer scientist should know how to use many different tools, and that
means he or she should have an appreciation of many different types
of language. For example, because Python is interpreted, the resulting
programs are often not as fast as those written in lower-level languages,
such as C or C++.
On the other hand, programs are much easier to
write than they are in C. So there is a trade-off, anengineering compromise of
the type common in computer science. Is less time in execution of the
final program worth spending more time in development and debugging? For
the beginning student, and in fact for the vast majority of computer programs,
the answer is clearly no. (Another way to express this trade-off is to
ask, “whose time is more important, your time or the computer’s?”)
Low-level languages such as C have their place, but only for the small group
of computer programs for which ultimate execution time is critically
important. You may eventually work on such systems, but not in your first
programming course.
Another important category of programming languages are those tied to a specific application.
A good example of this category is the language PHP, a
programming language used to create interactive web pages. (See
www.php.org). A general-purpose language, such as Python, cannot hope to
be as easy to use in this application area. But PHP is extremely clumsy to
use for purposes other than web pages. If, or when, you start extensive
work in such an application area you will want to learn how to use these tools
