Python Programming/Overview
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Python is a high-level, structured, open-source programming language that can be used for a wide variety of programming tasks. It is good for simple quick-and-dirty scripts, as well as complex and intricate applications.
It is an interpreted programming language that is automatically compiled into bytecode before execution (the bytecode is then normally saved to disk, just as automatically, so that compilation need not happen again until and unless the source gets changed). It is also a dynamically typed language that includes (but does not require one to use) object oriented features and constructs.
The most unusual aspect of Python is that whitespace is significant; instead of block delimiters (braces → "{}" in the C family of languages), indentation is used to indicate where blocks begin and end.
For example, the following Python code can be interactively typed at an interpreter prompt, to display the beginning values in the Fibonacci series:
>>> a,b = 0,1 >>> print(b) 1 >>> while b < 100: ... a,b = b,(a+b) ... print(b, end=" ") ... 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144
Another interesting aspect in Python is reflection and introspection. The dir() function returns the list of the names of objects in the current scope. However, dir(object) will return the names of the attributes of the specified object. The locals() routine returns a dictionary in which the names in the local namespace are the keys and their values are the objects to which the names refer. Combined with the interactive interpreter, this provides a useful environment for exploration and prototyping.
Python provides a powerful assortment of built-in types (e.g., lists, dictionaries and strings), a number of built-in functions, and a few constructs, mostly statements. For example, loop constructs that can iterate over items in a collection instead of being limited to a simple range of integer values. Python also comes with a powerful standard library, which includes hundreds of modules to provide routines for a wide variety of services including regular expressions and TCP/IP sessions.
Python is used and supported by a large Python Community that exists on the Internet. The mailing lists and news groups like the tutor list actively support and help new python programmers. While they discourage doing homework for you, they are quite helpful and are populated by the authors of many of the Python textbooks currently available on the market. It is named after Monty Python's Flying Circus comedy program, and created by Guido Van Rossum.
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