What Is Python And Why Should I Start With It?

A bit of history.

Created by a Python enthusiast named Guido van Rossum in 1991. Then he worked on a completely different language — ABC — at the Dutch institute CWI.

Over time, the man realized that he was looking for a language with new principles and philosophy that would combine the best features of other languages. Thus, Python appeared with a simple and understandable syntax (I’ll talk about it a little later), easy to learn, and a huge base of additional tools. The latter are libraries and frameworks created by a powerful community over the course of 30 years.

By the way, python snakes have nothing to do with language. Guido just loved watching the comedy show “Monty Python’s Air Circus”, so he named his project after him.

Why can it be your first?

Chances are, you’ve heard about Machine Learning and Data Science, which promise us a progressive future. And Python is considered the best programming language for these areas. His strong point is big data analysis and artificial intelligence techniques.

The first helps the business to collect information about us and build its economic and marketing policy. Second, it teaches computers to independently perform their tasks and learn almost without human intervention.

Given this promising language, it is worth evaluating the entire list of its advantages.

Versatility.

It’s hard to find a product where Python hasn’t gone before. Of course, no language can meet all the needs of humanity in information technology. And yet each of the languages ​​has its own strengths and weaknesses. With that in mind, there are the most popular uses for Python and the less common ones — here they are.

1. Machine learning. Python is the most convenient language for writing Machine Learning algorithms.

For example, to launch an advertising campaign on FB, what did we do? We suffered and formed the target audience manually (we chose certain categories of people, tested certain ad groups for them). Now FB itself finds people who are most likely to buy jewelry or brand new Converse from you. Hallelujah! Machine Learning is protecting the nerve cells of advertisers and SMMs.

Wherever experience accumulation and flexible interaction scenarios are provided, Python will help. Simply because it is impossible to manually prescribe all the variants of human-machine interaction. Here is the latter and gives a certain freedom. The freedom to learn.

2. Testing. When you create an application and test all its functions, click on all its buttons and menus — this is called manual testing.

But for a deeper understanding of the behavior of your product (whether or not a user is friendly or not, and how exactly) you need automated testing. Python has tools and libraries to help you create automated test drives for your code child.

3. Programs and services. Here is just a small list of what has been written with Python:

• Dropbox (alma mater of Python programmers: Guido van Rossum himself works for the company);
• BitTorrent;
• OpenShot Video Editor;
• Spotify;
• Mozilla;
• Pinterest;
• Paypal;
• Instagram.

4. Embedded systems. The language allows you to write scripts for various devices. A striking example is a program for controlling smart home or an ATM system.

5. Mobile development. There are two main tools for building Python applications.

Kivy is a library for developing cross-platform applications (that is, they work on Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android with IOS as well).

And the BeeWare framework has a fairly extensive set of tools for writing mobile and desktop applications in Python.

4. Games. Most games with complex architectonics cannot be written in pure Python. However, this language still could not be done during the creation of the world of Tanks and Sims IV.

Simplicity and conciseness.

Did you know that Python coding is taught even at school? So to say, whoever is lucky. But this once again proves that even a high school student can create a simple program in Python.

A simplified version of these algorithms is the Scratch program, in which high school students learn to create animations using commands that are very much like language functions. So, we can confidently say that not everything is so complicated and you will not need any exceptional knowledge of mathematics (at least at first).

Intuitive clarity.

The syntax of the language becomes just text that you can read. Now I’ll start to explain a little more difficult, but relax — it’s not even heavy artillery yet.

So. The print function (literally “print”) displays any value on the user’s screen.

Here’s a script: print (“Hello world”) will just display this phrase on the screen of some human.

And here is a small calculator script:

a = input (‘Enter the first number “)

b = input (‘Enter second number’)

Here the input function is responsible for the data that you ask the user. On the screen of the program, he will see the phrase “Enter the first number:” (we write these phrases at random ). And the user enters, for example, “2”. In the column “Enter the second number:” enters “3”.

As you remember, the print function prints the value to the screen. Under the condition that we have given, the numbers are summed up. To make the program understand that 2 and 3 are exact integers, we write an int function before both of them. From English integer and means “integer”.

Thus, the result of the print (2 + 3) function is 5, which will be automatically displayed to the user.

Thus, the functions of a language are essentially English words.

As for syntax in general, strings are separated by spaces, and functions and operators are separated by parentheses. This makes the language intuitive.

Wide community.

For 30 years, so many people have rallied around the language that you will find like-minded people and even teachers on any forum, group, or IT environment.

Due to the tireless work of these fans, you will find any useful information in two clicks on Google. And any other language will surely envy the number of teaching materials. Want to learn how to work with the Git version control system? If not a specific answer, then comment with a list of resources that will definitely be “thrown” by your colleague.

A wealth of auxiliary tools.

Python is renowned for its diverse frameworks and libraries that have been created for almost any purpose. For example:

• For multidimensional arrays and high-level matrices, there is NumPy.
• For calculations in engineering — SciPy.
• For research, analysis, and data management, Pandas is suitable.
• Scikit-Learn is responsible for working with artificial intelligence.

The latter library is especially relevant because it is the use of the language in machine learning that has allowed Python to stay on-trend in recent years.

Demand for a profession = good earnings.

If I started learning Python now, then I would definitely have an ambition for the professions of Data Science and Machine Learning. Of course, no one immediately promises high earnings, and it often varies between $ 500–600 for Juniors. But on average, a Big Data specialist gets $ 1900. With over 7 years of experience, Data Scientist is claiming over $ 3000 in compensation.

If you are interested in automating product testing and are looking for Python opportunities in the profession, there is good news: QA Engineer earns $ 1,900 on average, QA Tech Lead around $ 3,000, and Senior QA Engineer earns $ 2,600. The salary for Juniors is expected to be $ 600 (in Kharkiv, the lowest is $ 500).

Python product development also remains a promising direction. Junior, as almost everywhere, can traditionally count on $ 700 in salary. A Middle-level specialist receives about $ 2000, and a Senior Software Engineer — $ 3800. As you can see, the prospects are grandiose, and one should strive for them.

Output.

Python as a programming language experienced a real boom in 2015–2018. Now its role is being rethought in connection with the development of the field of Machine Learning, Data Science, and Data Analysis. And this is a good time to jump on this shuttle of future breakthroughs and discoveries. Such is the tidbit along with the simple syntax and clear logic of the language.

If you are most attracted to writing programs, games, and other web products, Python is a great place to start for learning programming languages ​​as such.