Python is seen as the number one language to learn. Here are a few reasons why:
1. It’s simple to read and understand
This makes it an ideal language for beginners to learn. And it acts as a stepping-stone for learning other object-oriented¹ languages.
Python is also concise.
For the same task, Python requires 3–5 times less code than Java, and up to 10 times less code than C++.
2. It’s a powerful language for data science
Python is the preferred language for Data Science and Machine Learning. Both areas with exciting work and a growing demand for jobs.
3. A huge community of web developers use it
Its popularity for web development means that there are numerous open source libraries, frameworks and sources of help for beginners.
You can use Python to build whatever you want to build, from a scraper to an e-commerce site.
Check out the Learn More link to dig into more reasons to learn Python.
Versions
You’ll be learning Python 3 for this course as it’s the latest and best version.
Python 3 is easier for beginners to understand, and is being updated frequently so there are fewer bugs.
In the latest version of Python, text is printed as follows:
In older versions, text is printed like this:
Python 3 treats print as a function rather than a statement, so you must pass items that you want printed in parentheses.
Some programmers still use versions of Python 2, with 2.7 being the last major release.
Since the start of 2020 Python HQ are no longer working on improvements to Python 2 and have advised everyone to switch over to Python 3.
And now, for your first Python experience we’ve prepared a playground. Run the code, change things, go wild!
Footnotes
[1] All you need to know for now is that object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming pattern that works with real-life entities. These entities are called objects, and they have attributes and behaviors.
Let’s use the common car analogy to better understand OOP.
Think of the car as the object. The model, color or age of the car are the object’s attributes. Whether the engine is on, or whether it’s moving are behaviors and would exist as functions.
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