It is only fair to mention that these strengths can also translate into weaknesses:
- Python takes care for you of all “low-level” operations: this may not always lead to
efficient code
- Python is interpreted, and loses the efficiency of compiled languages.
- Python users then write programs for small, specific jobs. These programs are usually for
the programmer’s eye only, and as such are often incomprehensible to everyone but the
original programmer. In that respect, I can only emphasize the need for clarity, as well as
for useful comments in your source files!
- Python was designed to be easy for humans. As a consequence, it is relatively lenient on
the style you use. This can lead to bad programming habits. As an analogy, think of
what would happen to your English writing style if nobody had ever cared about how you
write as long as they understand what you have written. To avoid this, the key is to
develop first a method to solve your problem that is independent of Python (or any other
language), and then to adapt this method to Python.
2. What is Python used for?
Python has been successfully implemented in many software applications as a scripting
language.
Python is a very useful programming language for web applications.
Python is used widely for game development, for 3D animation packages, in the information
security industry,…
3. How do I get Python?
Python has been ported to many platforms, and will certainly run on the standard operating
systems such as UNIX, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, all flavors of Windows, and Apple MacOS.
Python 2 versus Python 3
In December 2008, the Python consortium released a completely new version of Python, Python
3.0, that is not backward compatible: this means that programs written with Python 1 or Python 2
may not run under Python 3.0. At this stage, we will stay with Python 2, as it remains the most
common version found on many operation systems. Even if Python 2 and Python 3 are not fully
compatible, once you’ll know Python version 2, switching to version 3 will be easy.
Where to get Python:
- You can get the source to the latest stable release of Python from
http://www.python.org. Remember that you want Python 2 at this stage.
- Binary distributions for some ports are available at the same address
- You can get binary packages of Python for Linux, Solaris, Mac OS and Windows from
ActiveState at http://www.activestate.com/ActivePython (free for download)