Six Reasons Why Python is the New Daddy

Since I started working on Python for Data Science, a lot of my friends have been asking this question. The question stems from the fact that most computer science students in India are introduced to programming through C, C++ and later, Java. While C, C++ and Java are no doubt, groundbreaking programming languages in themselves, Python has risen above in ranks in recent times.

Python: A Brief Introduction

It is worth noting that Python is called as a general-purpose language, and not as a promgramming language. Python is not as young a language as you may think. Python has been around since 1991. The giant of the internet, Google has been using Python for so many of its application and also has a dedicated portal for developers who want to learn and

contribute to the language. Here's a "Hello, World!" program in Python. Notice the

simplicity of the language.

Usually Python is not the primary language of a developer. The reason behind it is that Python is comparatively very easy sytactically so developers learn Python as their second or third language.

Modern History of Python

Guido van Rossum

Before we starting digging deep into why Python is being so widely used, we should spare a moment to thank a former Google employee, Guido van Rossum. He currently works in DropBox. He is a Dutch programmer who created and released this language, we now know as Python, back in 1991. He always wanted a language to be simple. The core idea was to create a language in which minimal lines of code is required for any purpose. This idea of 'simplistic language' is the reason why Python is progressing rapidly to become so

widely used and accepted in industries.

"Python is an experiment in how much freedom programmers need. Too much freedom and nobody can read another's code; too little and expressiveness is endangered." - Guido van Rossum.

So, let's finally answer the question...

Here are some reasons why Python is being preferred over other languages:

1. Simplicity leads to saving of time and money.

Python is a very simple language as far as coding is concerned and this I have mentioned enough times in this blog article now. But what this simplicity implies is that it also ensures that less time in needed, which converts to less money for the clients. I will give you a pretty straightforward example. Consider a "Hello, World!" program in C++:

In Python, it all translates to just:

2. Active Developer Community

Python has got a huge developer community who are very active in maintaining the language. Since Python has been around for such a long time, therefore there is a lot of documentation, tutorial and support guide available, both on the internet and in printed medium. Also Python community makes sure that developer at every skill level, from beginner to expert is being supported when needed and this is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

3. Giants use it

Be it internet world leaders like Google, Facebook, Youtube, Spotify, Instagram, or Dropbox or be it organizations like NASA, Disney or Electronic Arts, everyone has incorporated Python in their systems, which reflects how well this language is progressing. The names I mentioned above are just a few companies of the tens of thousands of companies who use Python for their work.

4. It's a grower!

Stack Overflow compiled the data of percentage of overall question views each month and the growth of Python has been in epic proportions. It shows that there is lot of interest buzzing among developers to learn Python. Languages like Javascript and Java (no, they are not the same -_-) have been overtaken by Python while C++, C# and PHP aren't even close in comparison.

5. Huge number of libraries

Python has an amazing number of libraries which can help developers save time when dealing with larger projects. Libraries like NumPy and SciPy are used for scientific computing. Scikit Learn is popularly used for Machine Learning. Django is another library, which is primarily used for web development purposes. You name a purpose and Python has got a library for it.

6.Reliable Python runs with almost nil performance loss on virtually any platform, in any environment. This makes Python very reliable and this is another reason why Python is so widely used.

Conclusion

Python is quoted as the Swiss Army Knife of languages. The reason is that it is a versatile language, in a sense that virtually anyone, from any domain of technology can utilize the miraculous power of this language. So what are you waiting for? Install any Python IDE, or use Jupyter notebooks to create your first Python application and set off for a journey towards doing some amazing stuffs in a simpler way.