Chapter 1: Python Introduction

What is python?

Wikipedia: Python is a widely used high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Its design philosophy emphasizes code readability, and its syntax allows programmers to express concepts in fewer lines of code than possible in languages such as C++ or Java. The language provides constructs intended to enable writing clear programs on both a small and large scale.

History of Python

In the early 1990’s, Guido van Rossum designed what would become the Python programming language. Van Rossum was dissatisfied with the languages available.

They were optimized to write large programs that executed quickly. He needed a language that could not only be used to create programs quickly but also make them easy to modify. It was designed to have a much simpler and cleaner syntax than other popular languages such as Java, C and C++  (making it easier to learn).