What is Python?
Python is a high-level, object-oriented and powerful programming language. Its syntax allows programmers to develop programs with fewer lines of code.
Python code is easy to read, its simple syntax has similarities to the English language. Indentation is used to separate blocks of code in Python, this is one of the most distinctive features of the language.
Python History
Python was created by Dutch programmer Guido van Rossum in the early 1990s. The language was started as a side project at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in the Netherlands.
The latest major Python version (3.0) was released in 2008. Most of the users migrated their code from Python 2.7 to 3.x. If you are planning to start a new project, you can use Python 3.x version.
Guido van Rossum, named the language after Monty Python’s Flying Circus (a BBC comedy show from the 1970s). When he began implementing Python, he was reading the published scripts from Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Many Python examples and tutorials include jokes from the show.
Applications of Python
Python is mostly used by both Web Developers and Data Scientists. You can use various Python frameworks and libraries depending on your needs. For web development, you can use frameworks like Django, Flask, Bottle, Web2py. There are many libraries available for data scientists as well (NumPy, PyTorch or SciPy). Python can also be used for GUI development.
Audience
This tutorial is intended to introduce you to the basic concepts and noteworthy features of Python 3 in a simple way. With the background you gained in this tutorial, you can explore the advanced features of the language.