What is Python?

Python :
  • Python is an interpreted language. Python does not need to be compiled before it is run. Other interpreted languages include PHP and Ruby.
  • Python is dynamically typed, this means that you don't need to state the types of variables when you declare them or anything like that. You can do things like x=123 and then x="Hello" without an error.
  • Python is well suited to object orientated programming in that it allows the definition of classes along with composition and inheritance.
  • In Python, functions are first-class objects. This means that they can be assigned to variables, returned from other functions and passed into functions. Classes are also first class objects.
  • Writing Python code is quick but running it is often slower than compiled languages. Python allows the inclusion of C based extensions so bottlenecks can be optimized away and often are. The numpy package is a good example of this, it's really quite quick because a lot of the number crunching it does isn't actually done by Python.
  • Python finds use in many spheres - web applications, automation, scientific modeling, big data applications and many more. It's also often used as "glue" code to get other languages and components to play nice.
  • Python makes difficult things easy so programmers can focus on overriding algorithms and structures rather than low-level details.
  • Features / Advantages of Python :
    • Simple and minimalistic
    • Open source
    • High-level language:
      • Never need to bother about the low-level details such as managing the memory used by the program.
    • Interpreted:
      • We doesn't need to compile and convert it to binary. It just the program directly from the source code.
      • Python coverts source code written by the programmer into intermediate language i.e. byte code, which is again translated it into the native language / machine language that is executed so python is an interpreted language.
    • Python supports Object Oriented as well as procedure oriented programming.
    • Dynamically typed language
  • Disadvantages of Python :
    • Python is not the best for memory intensive task.
    • Python is an interpreted language and is slow compared to C/C++ or java.
    • Python is not a great choice for a high graphic 3D game that takes up a lot of CPU.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is composite key?

Composite Key : A composite key is a combination of two or more columns in a table that can be used to uniquely identify each row in the table. When the columns are combined uniqueness is guaranteed but when it taken individually it does not guarantee uniqueness. Sometimes more than one attributes are needed to uniquely identify an entity. A primary key that is made by the combination of more than one attribute is known as a composite key. Ex : Create table abc ( c1 int , c2 varchar(20), c3 varchar(100) , PRIMARY KEY ( c1, c2 ) );
Keep reading

What are the different data types in Python?

Python Datatypes : Boolean Numbers Strings Lists Tuples Sets Dictionaries Boolean : Booleans are either true or false. Python has 2 constants named True and False which can be used to assign a boolean value directly. In certain places ( like if statements ), Python expects an expression to a boolean value, these places are called boolean contexts. Numbers : Python supports both int and floating point numbers. Tuples : A tuple is an immutable list, it means a tuple can't be changed in a way once it's created. A tuple is defined in the same way as a list, except that the whole set of an element is enclosed in the parenthesis instead of square brackets. Similarities with the list  : Tuples have a defined order i.e. Indices are 0 based, so the first element of a non-empty tuple is always a_tuple[ 0 ]. Negative indices count from the end of the tuple. Slicing works too, when we slice a list we get a new list. When we slice a tuple, we get a new t
Keep reading

What is __repr__ function?

__repr__ function : The __repr__ function returns a string representation of a Python object that may be evaluated by the Python interpreter to instantiate another instance of the object. Called by the repr() built-in function and by string conversions (reverse quotes) to compute the "official" string representation of an object. repr() tries to convert everything into a string that can be used with eval() to re-generate the original object. repr() generates a computer friendly output. str() is used by print() function to generate a user-friendly output. str()'s output may or may not be used with eval(). >>> eval("'Hello'") 'Hello' >>> eval('Hello') Traceback (most recent call last):   File "<pyshell#8>", line 1, in <module>     eval(' Hello ')   File "<string>", line 1, in <module> NameError: name ' Hello ' is not defined
Keep reading