What is Python?

What Python is

Python is a general purpose programming language known for readable code and a large set of libraries. It is well suited to automation, data processing, and AI work, and quick to write and maintain.

Guido van Rossum began working on Python in the late 1980s at CWI, a research institute in the Netherlands, and released it in 1991. He wanted a language that was easy to read and quick to write. The name comes from the British comedy group Monty Python, not from the snake.

Python 2 came out in 2000 and Python 3 in 2008. Python 3 fixed design problems but was not fully compatible with older code, so the move took many years, and support for Python 2 ended in 2020. Van Rossum stepped down as the project's leader in 2018, and an elected steering council now guides the language.

How Python works

Python is an interpreted language. You write code in a text file ending in .py and a program called the interpreter runs it line by line. There is no separate build step for you to manage, which makes it quick to test ideas. The standard interpreter is called CPython and is written in C.

The syntax is designed to look close to plain English. Python uses indentation, the spaces at the start of a line, to show which lines belong together, instead of curly braces. It is dynamically typed, so you do not have to declare the type of a variable, although optional type hints are available.

Much of Python's strength is in its libraries. A large standard library comes built in, and the pip tool installs third-party packages from the Python Package Index, known as PyPI. A virtual environment keeps the packages for each project separate. Popular packages include Django, Flask and FastAPI for the web, and NumPy, pandas and PyTorch for data and AI.

Key features of Python

• Readable syntax

  Code is short and close to everyday language. This makes Python a common first language and easy to maintain later.

• Large standard library

  Tools for files, dates, JSON, HTTP, math and more are included. Many scripts need nothing extra installed.

• Huge package ecosystem

  PyPI hosts packages for almost every task, from web servers to image processing. They install with a single pip command.

• Data and AI tools

  Libraries such as NumPy, pandas, scikit-learn, TensorFlow and PyTorch made Python the main language for data science and machine learning.

• Cross-platform

  The same script usually runs on Windows, macOS and Linux with little or no change.

• Interactive use

  You can type code into an interactive prompt or a Jupyter notebook and see results right away. This is useful for learning and for exploring data.

When to use Python

Python compared with alternatives

How to start learning Python

1. 01Download Python from python.org and run python --version in a terminal to check the install.
2. 02Work through the official tutorial at docs.python.org, covering variables, lists, dictionaries, loops and functions.
3. 03Create a virtual environment with python -m venv and install a package with pip.
4. 04Write a small script that solves a real task, such as renaming files or reading a spreadsheet.
5. 05Pick a direction and build one project, for example a web API with FastAPI or a data report with pandas.

What Python costs

Python is free and open source. Its license allows use in commercial and closed source products without fees. Most popular Python packages are also free and open source.

How DATAL Projects uses Python

Python is part of our software development work in the Philippines. Common uses:

• Automation scripts
• Data processing and reports
• AI and machine learning tools

Common questions about Python