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What is Python?
Python is a widely used high-level programming language for
general-purpose programming, created by Guido van Rossum and first released in 1991. Python features a dynamic type system and automatic memory management and supports multiple programming paradigms, including object-oriented, imperative, functional programming, and procedural styles. It has a large and comprehensive standard library. Two major versions of Python are currently in active use: Python 3.x is the current version and is under active development. Python 2.x is the legacy version and received only security updates until 2020. No new features will be implemented. Note that many projects still use Python 2, although migrating to Python 3 is getting easier.
Verify if Python is installed
To confirm that Python was installed correctly, you can verify that by running the following command in your favorite terminal. $ python --version Python 3.x Version ≥ 3.0
Note: If you are using Windows OS, you need to add path of python to the environment variable before using it in command prompt
If you have Python 3 installed, and it is your default version you
should see something like this: $ python --version Python 3.6.0 Python 2.x Version ≤ 2.7
If you have Python 2 installed, and it is your default version you
should see something like this: $ python --version Python 2.7.13 You can use the Python 3 print function in Python 2 with the following import statement: from __future__ import print_function If you want to run Python 3 from your terminal, execute the command python3. $ python3 Python 3.6.0 (default, Jan 13 2017, 00:00:00) [GCC 6.1.1 20160602] on linux Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>> print('Hello, World') Hello, World >>> There are multiple ways to close the Python shell: >>> exit() or >>> quit() Alternatively, CTRL + D will close the shell and put you back on your terminal's command line. If you want to cancel a command you're in the middle of typing and get back to a clean command prompt, while staying inside the Interpreter shell, use CTRL + C .