Python Bootcamp: The Crash Course for Understanding the Basics of Python Computer Language (2016)

Chapter 1. What is Python?

Python is an advanced and structured programming language. You can use it to accomplish various programming tasks. Additionally, Python is an open-source language: thousands of computer experts across the globe are using and improving it on a daily basis. A Dutch programmer named Guido Van Rossum created Python in the early part of the 90s. He named it after a comedy show titled Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

Computer experts consider Python as a powerful programming language. System administrators are using it to develop different types of computer software. Actually, Python has greatly helped in improving Linux systems. Most of Linux’s main components are written using Python. IT professors also use this language to teach basic programming. That means Python is versatile, powerful, and easy to learn.

Before execution, this programming language gets compiled into bytecode automatically. The system saves the bytecode onto the hard disk. That means the user doesn’t have to perform compilation unless changes are made on the source. Additionally, Python is a dynamically typed programming language that allows (but doesn’t require) object-oriented constructs and features.

Unlike other programming languages, Python considers whitespace as an important part of its codes. In fact, the whitespace’s significance is the most distinctive attribute of Python. Rather than block delimiters (which is being used by C programming languages), Python uses indentation to indicate the starting point and endpoint of code blocks.

Another cool aspect of Python is that it is available for ALL platforms. You can easily install and use Python on Linux, Macintosh, and Windows computers. That means computer programs written using this language are extremely portable: you can use them with any available platform.