Introduction To Python

Last Updated : 24 Sep, 2024

Python is a widely used general-purpose, high-level programming language. It was

created by Guido van Rossum in 1991 and further developed by the Python Software
Foundation. It was designed with an emphasis on code readability, and its syntax allows
programmers to express their concepts in fewer lines of code. Python is a programming
language that lets you work quickly and integrate systems more efficiently. There are
two major Python versions: Python 2 and Python 3. Both are quite different.
Beginning with Python Programming
1) Finding an Interpreter
Before we start Python programming, we need an interpreter to interpret and run our
programs. Here is our online interpreter that can be used to run Python programs
without installing a Python interpreter.

Windows: There are many interpreters available freely to run Python scripts like IDLE
(Integrated Development Environment), which comes bundled with the Python
software downloaded from http://python.org/.
Linux: Python comes preinstalled with popular Linux distros such as Ubuntu and
Fedora. To check which version of Python you’re running, type “python” in the
terminal emulator. The interpreter should start and print the version number.
macOS: Generally, Python 2.7 comes bundled with macOS. You’ll have to manually
install Python 3 from http://python.org/.

2) Writing our First Program

Just type in the following code after you start the interpreter.

Python
 1
# Script Begins

Output
GeeksQuiz

Line 1: [# Script Begins]

In Python, comments begin with a #. This statement is ignored by the interpreter and
serves as documentation for our code.

Line 2: [print(“GeeksQuiz”)]
To print something on the console, print() function is used. This function also adds a
newline after our message is printed(unlike in C). Note that in Python 2, “print” is not a
function but a keyword and therefore can be used without parentheses. However, in
Python 3, it is a function and must be invoked with parentheses.

Line 3: [# Script Ends]

This is just another comment like in Line 1. Python designed by Guido van
Rossum at CWI has become a widely used general-purpose, high-level programming
language.

Reason for Increasing Popularity

1. Emphasis oncode readability, shorter codes, ease of writing
2. Programmers can express logical concepts in fewer lines of code in comparison to
languages such as C++ or Java.
3. Python supports multiple programming paradigms, like object-oriented, imperative
and functional programming or procedural.
4. There exists inbuilt functions for almost all of the frequently used concepts.
5. Philosophy is “Simplicity is the best”.

Python Features
Interpreted
There are no separate compilation and execution steps like C and C++.
 Directly run the program from the source code.
Internally, Python converts the source code into an intermediate form called
bytecodes which is then translated into native language of specific computer to run it.
No need to worry about linking and loading with libraries, etc.

Platform Independent
Python programs can be developed and executed on multiple operating system
platforms.
Python can be used on Linux, Windows, Macintosh, Solaris and many more.

Free and Open Source; Redistributable

High-level Language
In Python, no need to take care about low-level details such as managing the
memory used by the program.

Simple
Closer to English language;Easy to Learn
More emphasis on the solution to the problem rather than the syntax

Embeddable
Python can be used within C/C++ program to give scripting capabilities for the
program’s users.

Robust:
Exceptional handling features
Memory management techniques in built

Rich Library Support

The Python Standard Library is very vast.
Known as the “batteries included” philosophy of Python ;It can help do various things
involving regular expressions, documentation generation, unit testing, threading,
 databases, web browsers, CGI, email, XML, HTML, WAV files, cryptography, GUI
and many more.
Besides the standard library, there are various other high-quality libraries such as
the Python Imaging Library which is an amazingly simple image manipulation library.

Python vs JAVA
Python Java
Dynamically Typed Statically Typed
No need to declare anything. An All variable names (along with their types)
assignment statement binds a must be explicitly declared. Attempting to
name to an object, and the object assign an object of the wrong type to a
can be of any type. variable name triggers a type exception.
No type casting is required when Type casting is required when using
using container objects container objects.

Concise Express much in limited Verbose Contains more words

words

Compact Less Compact

Uses Indentation for structuring code Uses braces for structuring code
The classical Hello World program illustrating the relative verbosity of a Java Program
and Python Program

Java Code
Java

1
public class HelloWorld
 2
{

3
bli t ti id i (St i [] )

Output
Hello, world!

Python Code
Python

1
print("Hello, world!")

Output
Hello, world!

Similarity with Java

Require some form of runtime on your system (JVM/Python runtime)
Can probably be compiled to executables without the runtime (this is situational,
none of them are designed to work this way)

Python Interface
Softwares making use of Python
Python has been successfully embedded in a number of software products as a
scripting language.

1. GNU Debugger uses Python as a pretty printer to show complex structures such as
C++ containers.
2. Python has also been used in artificial intelligence
3. Python is often used for natural language processing tasks.
Current Applications of Python
1. A number of Linux distributions use installers written in Python example in Ubuntu we
have the Ubiquity
2. Python has seen extensive use in the information security industry, including in
exploit development.
3. Raspberry Pi– single board computer uses Python as its principal user-programming
language.
4. Python is now being used Game Development areas also.
Pros:
1. Ease of use
2. Multi-paradigm Approach

Cons:
1. Slow speed of execution compared to C,C++
2. Absence from mobile computing and browsers
3. For the C,C++ programmers switching to python can be irritating as the language
requires proper indentation of code. Certain variable names commonly used like sum
are functions in python. So C, C++ programmers have to look out for these.

Industrial Importance
Most of the companies are now looking for candidates who know about Python
Programming. Those having the knowledge of python may have more chances of
impressing the interviewing panel. So I would suggest that beginners should start
learning python and excel in it.

Python is a high-level, interpreted, and general-purpose dynamic programming

language that focuses on code readability. It has fewer steps when compared to Java
and C. It was founded in 1991 by developer Guido Van Rossum. Python ranks among
the most popular and fastest-growing languages in the world. Python is a powerful,
flexible, and easy-to-use language. In addition, the community is very active there. It is
used in many organizations as it supports multiple programming paradigms. It also
performs automatic memory management.
Features of Python
1. Presence of third-party modules
2. Extensive support libraries(NumPy for numerical calculations, Pandas for data
analytics etc)
3. Open source and community development
4. Versatile, Easy to read, learn and write
5. User-friendly data structures
6. High-level language
7. Dynamically typed language(No need to mention data type based on the value
assigned, it takes data type)
8. Object-oriented language
9. Portable and Interactive
10. Ideal for prototypes – provide more functionality with less coding
11. Highly Efficient(Python’s clean object-oriented design provides enhanced process
control, and the language is equipped with excellent text processing and integration
capabilities, as well as its own unit testing framework, which makes it more efficient.)
12. (IoT)Internet of Things Opportunities
13. Interpreted Language
14. Portable across Operating systems

Applications of Python
1. GUI based desktop applications
2. Graphic design, image processing applications, Games, and Scientific/ computational
Applications
3. Web frameworks and applications
4. Enterprise and Business applications
5. Operating Systems
6. Education
7. Database Access
8. Language Development
9. Prototyping
10. Software Development
List of Companies Using Python
1. Google(Components of Google spider and Search Engine)
2. Yahoo(Maps)
3. YouTube
4. Mozilla
5. Dropbox
6. Microsoft
7. Cisco
8. Spotify
9. Quora

So before moving on further.. let’s do the most popular ‘HelloWorld’ tradition and hence
compare Python’s Syntax with C, C++, Java ( I have taken these 3 because they are
most famous and mostly used languages). If you want to explore more programming
examples then explore GeeksforGeeks Python course, in this course you can get all the
paid topics of Python without any cost.

Python

1
# Python code for "Hello World"

2
# nothing else to type...see how simple is the syntax.

Output
Hello World

Note: Please note that Python for its scope doesn’t depend on the braces ( { } ), instead
it uses indentation for its scope. Now moving on further

Lets start our basics of Python. I will be covering the basics in some small sections. Just
go through them and trust me you’ll learn the basics of Python very easily.
Introduction and Setup
If you are on Windows OS download Python by Clicking here and now install from the
setup and in the start menu type IDLE.IDLE, you can think it as an Python’s IDE to run
the Python Scripts. It will look somehow this:

If you are on Linux/Unix-like just open the terminal and on 99% linux OS Python comes
preinstalled with the OS.Just type ‘python3’ in terminal and you are ready to go. It will
look like this :

The ” >>> ” represents the python shell and its ready to take python commands
and code.

Variables and Data Structures

In other programming languages like C, C++, and Java, you will need to declare the
type of variables but in Python you don’t need to do that. Just type in the variable and
when values will be given to it, then it will automatically know whether the value given
would be an int, float, or char or even a String.

Python

1
# Python program to declare variables
 2
myNumber = 3

3
print(myNumber)

Output
3
4.5
helloworld

See, how simple is it, just create a variable and assign it any value you want and then use the print function
to print it. Python have 4 types of built in Data Structures namely List, Dictionary, Tuple and Set. List It is
the most basic Data Structure in python. List is a mutable data structure i.e items can be added to list later
after the list creation. It's like you are going to shop at the local market and made a list of some items and
later on you can add more and more items to the list. append() function is used to add data to the list.
Python

Python

1
# creates a empty list

2
nums = []

4
# appending data in list

Output
[21, 40.5, 'String']

Python Comments
 # is used for single line comment in Python
""" this is a comment """ is used for multi line comments

Input and Output in Python

In this section, we will learn how to take input from the user and hence manipulate it or
simply display it. input() function is used to take input from the user.

Python

1
# Python program to illustrate

2
# getting input from user

3
name = input("Enter your name: ")
Output
Enter your name: Geeksforgeeks
hello Geeksforgeeks

Python Program to Get the Input

Python

Output
 1
# Python3
Enter num1: 4 program to get input from user
Enter num2: 8
Product2 is: 32

Conditional Statement in Python

3
# accepting integer from the user
Selection in Python is made using the two keywords ‘if’ and ‘elif’ and else (elseif)
4
# the return type of input() function is string ,
Python
5

1
# Python program to illustrate

2
# selection statement

3
num1 = 34

4
if(num1>12):

Output
Num1 is good

Functions in Python
You can think of functions like a bunch of code that is intended to do a particular task in the whole Python
script. Python used the keyword 'def' to define a function.

Syntax:def function-name(arguments):
#function bodyPython

Python

1
# Python program to illustrate
 2
# functions

3
def hello():

Output
hello
hello again
hello
hello again

Now as we know any program starts from a ‘main’ function…lets create a main function
like in many other programming languages.

Python

1
# Python program to illustrate

2
# function with main

3
def getInteger():

4
result = int(input("Enter integer: "))

5
return result

7
def Main():

8
Output
 Started
Enter integer: 3
3

As the name suggests it calls repeating things again and again. We will use the most popular 'for' loop here.

Python

1
# Python program to illustrate

2
# a simple for loop

Output
0
1
2
3
4

Modules in Python
Python has a very rich module library that has several functions to do many tasks. You
can read more about Python’s standard library by Clicking here ‘import’ keyword is used
to import a particular module into your python code. For instance consider the following
program.

Python

1
import math

2
 3
def Main():

4
num = -85

Output
85.0