Python is a widely-used programming language
It is:
• High-level: Python automates low-level operations such as memory management. It leaves
the programmer with a bit less control but has many benefits including code readability and
minimal code expressions.
• General-purpose: Python is built to be used in all contexts and environments. An example
of a non-general-purpose language is PHP: it is designed specifically as a server-side web development
scripting language. In contrast, Python can be used for server-side web development,
but also for building desktop applications.
• Dynamically typed: Every variable in Python can reference any type of data. A single
the expression may evaluate to data of different types at different times.
• Strongly typed: During program execution, you are not allowed to do anything that’s
incompatible with the type of data you’re working with. For example, there are no hidden
conversions from strings to numbers; a string made out of digits will never be treated as a
number unless you convert it explicitly.
• Beginner friendly: Python’s syntax and structure are very intuitive. It is high level and
provides constructs intended to enable writing clear programs on both a small and large
scale. Python supports multiple programming paradigms, including object-oriented,
imperative, and functional programming or procedural styles. It has a large, comprehensive
standard library and many easy-to-install 3rd party libraries.
• Its design principles are outlined in The Zen of Python.
Currently, there are two major release branches of Python which have some significant
differences. Python 2.x is the legacy version though it still sees widespread use. Python 3.x makes
a set of backward-incompatible changes that aim to reduce feature duplication. For help
deciding which version is best for you, see this article.
The official Python documentation is also a comprehensive and useful resource, containing
documentation for all versions of Python as well as tutorials to help gets you started.
There is one official implementation of the language supplied by Python.org, generally referred to
as CPython, and several alternative implementations of the language on other runtime platforms.
These include IronPython (running Python on the .NET platform), Jython (on the Java runtime)
and PyPy (implementing Python in a subset of itself).