If you're considering learning a programming language, you'll likely get a lot of different suggestions. After all, programming languages are tools for programmers, computer scientists, and IT professionals to get their jobs done so the right one will depend on you and what you need to do.
If you're new to computer science or programming and still deciding which programming language to learn, here's our quick guide to Python, what it's for, and why you should use it over other programming languages.
Define Python
Put simply, Python is a programming language. It's one of the most popular programming languages in the world.
Other popular programming languages include JavaScript, Java, C#, C++, PHP, Swift, SQL, and Ruby and each comes with its pros and cons.
Python is a high-level programming language. This means that there's a higher level of abstraction between the code and what happens in the hardware.
Machine code is the lowest-level programming language. With machine code, you essentially talk directly to the hardware and tell it what to do. However, you just have to take one look at machine code to realize that it's not very readable. It's also specific to certain machines and architecture.
Python and many of the other popular programming languages are more easily read by humans. This allows programmers to do more complex tasks and problem-solving. Conversely, low-level languages will afford programmers much greater control over computer hardware.
Accessibility and Versatility
Python is an accessible and versatile programming language. Its syntax (the rules and conventions that need to be followed) is largely readable, making it easier to learn and use.
Python can be used for a broad range of different tasks and applications. We'll look at these later on in the article, but for the time being, you should know that this is one of the reasons that it's so popular.
Python is also open-source, which means that it's developed and maintained by the community rather than being owned by someone. The source code of Python is freely available and accessible to anyone and they're free to view, modify, and distribute the code as they see fit.
The fact that Python is open-source has also allowed a large and helpful community to grow around it. Those learning to code in Python as well as those already working with it can rely on help from the community.
To get started learn about functions in Python and how they work.
Popular Uses for Python
To understand why Python is so important, you need to know what it's used for. We already know that it's used a lot and is one of the world's most popular programming languages.
So what exactly are the careers where programmers use Python?
Web Development
In the world of web development, Python can be used in both front-end and back-end development. Front-end web development focuses on the user experience and what users see while back-end web development mainly focuses on what the servers and databases do.
Python, alongside Ruby, Java, PHP, and C#, is particularly popular for back-end development. While front-end development tends to favor programming languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, there are ways to integrate Python-like code in HTML templates or use Python with JavaScript frameworks.
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Data Science and Machine Learning
Python has lots of popular applications in data science and machine learning. In data science, it's useful for cleaning and preparing data, statistical analysis, data visualization, feature engineering, and machine learning pipelines.
The programming language has become a hugely popular option for deep learning, neural network architectures, and natural language processing.
For anyone interested in a career in data science or machine learning, you'll likely need to learn Python or at least have some familiarity with it.
Gain more familiarity and learn about data structures in Python.
Artificial Intelligence
With Python being a popular choice for machine learning and deep learning, it's naturally a big part of artificial intelligence, too.
Even though OpenAI hasn't fully explained how their hugely popular ChatGPT works, it has been revealed that Python is one of the programming languages used in its development.
Science Fields
Lots of different scientific areas use Python, especially for data analysis and visualization. Python is a popular choice of programming language for scientists working in chemistry, geospace, climate science, biology, psychology and neuroscience, and math.
Other popular programming languages in the science field include R, Matlab, Julia, Fortran, C/C++, Java, and Haskell.
Network Programming
Python is a popular choice in network programming and is often used for network automation, network configuration, network devices, network monitoring, and network security.
As with a lot of other applications, Python is a popular choice due to how good it is for scripting and automation as well as the fact that it's good across multiple platforms.
Internet of Things (IoT)
Speaking of cross-platform compatibility, Python is often used for Internet of Things (IoT) development.
The Internet of Things is the network of connected devices and things with common everyday examples including smart devices like lights, security systems, fitness trackers, and smartwatches. Generally, when something is called "smart", it tends to indicate that it has some type of connectivity and makes up the IoT.
In addition to its cross-platform compatibility, Python is a popular choice for this kind of development as it's an accessible choice for developers, can be used quickly for prototyping since it's a high-level language, and is good with data science and analytics.
Its applications in networking are particularly useful, making it a popular choice in cybersecurity alongside C and C++, JavaScript, Java, and Golang.
Higher Education
Since Python is widely used and easy to learn, it's often used in education. It's also likely a very popular programming language because a lot of developers are taught how to code in Python as part of their education.
While this might be a self-fulfilling prophecy, you've already seen many examples of industries and applications where Python is useful so there's no harm in it being widely taught in schools, colleges, and universities around the world.
While computer science students will cover programming languages and likely Python to some extent, with the broad range of applications, students in many other disciplines may also be able to take classes on computer programming or Python.
Python vs. Other Programming Languages
You can see that Python is a very important programming language with a lot of different applications. But why are there so many other programming languages if Python is so great?
Each programming language comes with a list of pros and cons and is used for certain applications, another language would likely be better than Python.
Python is easy to read and very accessible, but in some applications, Python is slower than languages like C and C++. As a high-level language, Python isn't the best choice when it comes to resource-intensive projects like video games, which is why you rarely see Python being used to program games. For anyone interested in video game development, languages like C++, C#, Java, and JavaScript may be preferred.
This isn't to say that Python is never used in game development and you can use Python for scripting and logic, but not really for game engines. Python's accessibility does make it a good option for teaching budding game developers the fundamentals of programming, though.
In certain areas of web development, JavaScript tends to be preferred for browser scripting and is usually the go-to over Python.
Just remember that these are all examples and that the individual needs of each project will dictate which programming language is chosen. It's quite common for some professionals to be familiar with a few programming applications and choose the programming language that best fits the project.
Learn More About Python with a Private Tutor
Now that you know just how important Python is and what it can be used for, perhaps you're interested in learning how to code in Python.
While there are plenty of online courses and resources to get you started and options to study Python at college, private tutoring can help you learn Python in the way that's best for you.
On the Superprof site, you can browse the profiles of private tutors in computer science and any programming language you can think of.
You can work with local tutors face to face but there are also thousands of private Python tutors all over the world and for subjects like computer science and programming, online tutoring is often just as effective as in-person tutoring.
So many tutors on Superprof offer the first lesson for free so before you commit to a tutor, you can try a few different tutors and see which ones are best suited for you, what you want to learn, and how you like to learn.
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