The Python language – main advantage: it’s for free!
The Python language – main advantage: it’s for free!
The Python implementation is copyrighted but freely usable and distributable, even for commercial use.
Other advantages:
Python has a full set of string operations (including regular expression matching), and frees the user from most hassles of memory management.
These and other features make it an ideal language for prototype development and other ad-hoc programming tasks.
Python also has some features that make it possible to write large programs, even though it lacks most forms of compile-time checking: a program can be constructed out of a number of modules, each of which defines its own name space, and modules can define classes which provide further encapsulation. Exception handling makes it possible to catch errors where required without cluttering all code with error checking.
A large number of extension modules have been developed for Python. Some are part of the standard library of tools, usable in any Python program (e.g. the math library and regular expressions). Others are specific to a particular platform or environment (for example, UNIX, IP networking, or X11) or provide application-specific functionality (such as image or sound processing). Python also provides facilities for introspection, so that a debugger or profiler (or other development tools) for Python programs can be written in Python itself. There is also a generic way to convert an object into a stream of bytes and back, which can be used to implement object persistency as well as various distributed object models.
Python is an interpreted, object-oriented, high-level programming language with dynamic semantics. Its high-level built in data structures, combined with dynamic typing and dynamic binding; make it very attractive for Rapid Application Development, as well as for use as a scripting or glue language to connect existing components together. Python's simple, easy to learn syntax emphasizes readability and therefore reduces the cost of program maintenance. Python supports modules and packages, which encourages program modularity and code reuse. The Python interpreter and the extensive standard library are available in source or binary form without charge for all major platforms, and can be freely distributed. Often, programmers fall in love with Python because of the increased productivity it provides. Since there is no compilation step, the edit-test-debug cycle is incredibly fast.
Debugging Python programs is easy: a bug or bad input will never cause a segmentation fault. Instead, when the interpreter discovers an error, it raises an exception. When the program doesn't catch the exception, the interpreter prints a stack trace. A source level debugger allows inspection of local and global variables, evaluation of arbitrary expressions, setting breakpoints, stepping through the code a line at a time, and so on. The debugger is written in Python itself, testifying to Python's introspective power. On the other hand, often the quickest way to debug a program is to add a few print statements to the source: the fast edit-test-debug cycle makes this simple approach very effective.
A large number of extension modules have been developed for Python. Some are part of the standard library of tools, usable in any Python program (e.g. the math library and regular expressions). Others are specific to a particular platform or environment (for example, UNIX, IP networking, or X11) or provide application-specific functionality (such as image or sound processing). Python also provides facilities for introspection, so that a debugger or profiler (or other development tools) for Python programs can be written in Python itself. There is also a generic way to convert an object into a stream of bytes and back, which can be used to implement object persistency as well as various distributed object models.
Python is an interpreted, object-oriented, high-level programming language with dynamic semantics. Its high-level built in data structures, combined with dynamic typing and dynamic binding; make it very attractive for Rapid Application Development, as well as for use as a scripting or glue language to connect existing components together. Python's simple, easy to learn syntax emphasizes readability and therefore reduces the cost of program maintenance. Python supports modules and packages, which encourages program modularity and code reuse. The Python interpreter and the extensive standard library are available in source or binary form without charge for all major platforms, and can be freely distributed. Often, programmers fall in love with Python because of the increased productivity it provides. Since there is no compilation step, the edit-test-debug cycle is incredibly fast.
Debugging Python programs is easy: a bug or bad input will never cause a segmentation fault. Instead, when the interpreter discovers an error, it raises an exception. When the program doesn't catch the exception, the interpreter prints a stack trace. A source level debugger allows inspection of local and global variables, evaluation of arbitrary expressions, setting breakpoints, stepping through the code a line at a time, and so on. The debugger is written in Python itself, testifying to Python's introspective power. On the other hand, often the quickest way to debug a program is to add a few print statements to the source: the fast edit-test-debug cycle makes this simple approach very effective.
Published : Nov 30, 2005
