Introduction to Python
Contents
1. Introduction to Python#
Author: Tue Nguyen
1.1. Outline#
What is Python?
History of Python
Who uses Python?
Python 2 vs. 3
1.2. What is Python?#
Python is a general-purpose programming language. General-purpose simply means it can do a lot of stuff in many different fields. Here are some examples
Data science
Scientific computing
Software development
Web development
Game development
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Embedded systems
And many more
1.3. History of Python#
Here is a very brief history of Python
Python was created by Guido van Rossum in 1989 as a toy probject
Guido then used Python in a project at his workplace
Python was received good feedback from Guido’s colleagues
Thus, he decided to make Python open source
First released in 1991
Since then Python has grown consistently and become one of the most popular programming languages
As of May 2022, it is the most popular programming language according to the TIOBE
1.4. Who uses Python?#
A lot!
Individiuals: programmers, engineers, economists, analysts, or social sciences students/researchers
Organizations: tech companies, investment banks, universities, and research institutes
1.5. Python 2 or 3?#
The quick answer is Python 3
Python 2 has some serious issues (which I will not discuss here)
Thus the Python core team just started a completely new version - Python 3
Code written in Python 2 might not work with Python 3 and vice versa
Python 2 was officially sunset on 1/1/2020 (no more improvement)
In short, Python 2 is almost dead now, so use Python 3
1.6. Summary#
Python is a general-purpose programming language that can handle many classes of problems such as data science, software dev, web dev, etc.
Python was created by Guido van Rossum in 1989 and was first released in 1991
As of May 2022, Python is the most popular language according to TIOBE
Python is used by many professionals and organizations
Python 2 is outdated, use Python 3