What is Python?
Python is a popular programming language. It was created by Guido van Rossum, and released in
1991.
It is used for:
• web development (server-side),
• software development,
• mathematics,
• system scripting.
What can Python do?
• Python can be used on a server to create web applications.
• Python can be used alongside software to create workflows.
• Python can connect to database systems. It can also read and modify files.
• Python can be used to handle big data and perform complex mathematics.
• Python can be used for rapid prototyping, or for production-ready software development.
Why Python?
• Python works on different platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi, etc).
• Python has a simple syntax similar to the English language.
• Python has syntax that allows developers to write programs with fewer lines than some other
programming languages.
• Python runs on an interpreter system, meaning that code can be executed as soon as it is
written. This means that prototyping can be very quick.
• Python can be treated in a procedural way, an object-oriented way or a functional way.
Good to know
• The most recent major version of Python is Python 3, which we shall be using in this
tutorial.
• In this tutorial Python will be written in a text editor. It is possible to write Python in an
Integrated Development Environment, such as Thonny, Pycharm, Netbeans or Eclipse which
are particularly useful when managing larger collections of Python files.
Python Syntax compared to other programming languages
• Python was designed for readability, and has some similarities to the English language with
influence from mathematics.
• Python uses new lines to complete a command, as opposed to other programming languages
which often use semicolons or parentheses.
• Python relies on indentation, using whitespace, to define scope; such as the scope of loops,
functions and classes. Other programming languages often use curly-brackets for this
purpose.
Built-in Data Types
In programming, data type is an important concept.
Variables can store data of different types, and different types can do different things.
Python has the following data types built-in by default, in these categories:
Text Type: str
Numeric Types: int, float, complex
Sequence Types: list, tuple, range
Mapping Type: dict
Set Types: set, frozenset
Boolean Type: bool
Binary Types: bytes, bytearray, memoryview
None Type: NoneType
Getting the Data Type
You can get the data type of any object by using the type() function:
Python Operators
Operators are used to perform operations on variables and values.
In the example below, we use the + operator to add together two values:
Although the + operator is often used to add together two values, like in the example above, it can
also be used to add together a variable and a value, or two variables:
Python divides the operators in the following groups:
• Arithmetic operators
• Assignment operators
• Comparison operators
• Logical operators
• Identity operators
• Membership operators
• Bitwise operators
