Python Resources

This page provides an overview of Python, plus a set of handpicked links to additional resources for the language. Most of the links on this page not attributed to me lead to off-site resources; as usual on the web, click with care.

What's Python?

Python is a free, general-purpose, and open-source computer programming language. It's optimized for software quality, developer productivity, program portability, and component integration. Among Python's features are:

• A powerful multiparadigm toolset, with support for procedural, object-oriented, and functional programming
• A remarkably simple, readable, and maintainable syntax that handles tasks both small and large
• Multiple ways to integrate with external components, from compiled code to high-level frameworks
• And a vast collection of precoded libraries and utilities, that can slash project schedules and costs

Today, Python's speed of development is leveraged by millions of programmers around the world. It is commonly used in diverse domains such as Internet scripting, systems administration, scientific programming, AI, product customization, instrumentation, data science, game development, and quality assurance. By most accounts, it now ranks as one of the top 3 or 5 most widely used programming languages in the world.

Notable users of Python include: Google, Intel, Disney, YouTube, Industrial Light & Magic, Red Hat, NASA, Lawrence Livermore Lab, Eve Online, Seagate, JPL, Hewlett-Packard, JP Morgan Chase, Dropbox, ESRI, Calibre, Instagram, Spotify, Pinterest, Reddit, Netflix, and many more. More generally, Python is deployed in strategic or tactical roles by most organizations developing software today, and regularly serves as tool of choice in computer-science education. The resources below give additional users and success stories.

Although general-purpose, Python is often called a scripting language. This is partly because of its relative ease of use—Python code is typically 1/3 to 1/5 the size of equivalent C++ or Java code. This term also reflects the fact that Python makes it easy to utilize and direct other software components—Python scripts can employ C and C++ libraries; communicate over networking and web-services protocols; interface with Java and .Net class libraries; tap into data stores and mobile-app ecosystems; and more.

In the end, though, Python's best asset may simply be its ability to make software development more rapid and enjoyable, by enabling programmers instead of hindering them. Check out the links below to see why.

Python Links

This section's lists provide selected resources on Python popularity, general use, and history.

Metrics

Python continues to enjoy an active and even vigorous user community today, some three decades after its launch. It is now generally considered to be one of the top 3 or 5 most widely used programming languages in world, and is still growing in popularity by most metrics, including the following (updated occasionally from 2017 through 2021):

• User-base success stories, quotes, domains, and software
• Web presence in 2024 and more per the TIOBE index website
• Aggregates here and here at an IEEE.org website
• Topic popularity reported by O'Reilly's online learning
• Tag visits here and here from a Stack Overflow website
• Tutorial searches as reported by the PYPL popularity index website
• Web activity and volume as measured by the Redmonk website
• Github development activity noted by various sources
• Conference attendance, US PyCon: 3,000+ as of 2015
• Mentions in Dice job listings as noted here, here, and here
• A survey of Python's use by universities

General

There are hundreds (or thousands) of Python resources on the Web. For more information, either run a search or browse these assorted links:

• All things Pythonic: its main website
• Check out the 2014 PSF Python Brochure
• The community, conferences, and user groups
• Get paid for coding Python: jobs, jobs, and more jobs
• Python threads on Stack Overflow
• Python meets social media on Github
• The PyPI package index add-ons site
• Python 2.X support after its 2020 EOL: here and here
• Still active: the comp.lang.python newsgroup
• My review of recent Python changes
• My online collection of Python example programs

History

If you're looking for some historical context on Python, you might try these:

• The watercooler overview on Wikipedia
• My Python career retrospective page
• The Python "old-timers" blog
• Python's website through the years: try the image links above
• Relics from my archives here, here, and here
• Some of my interviews/articles: 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, etc
• Dated but useful—material from a 1997 introduction to Python
• While they last—papers and talks from conferences in 1995 and 1996 (pdf, pdf)
• Python future?—some notes from the trenches in 2012 and 2015
• An ancient (1993) post from the start of all the troubles...

More Python Links

The following older lists were trimmed and updated in 2014 (and rechecked in 2017). A few of their items may still be useful, but some had moved or changed, and others became dated or subsumed by newer resources above like Stack Overflow. A few longstanding Python sites, including the Vaults of Parnassus, have even ceased to be (insert dead parrot skit here...).

Assorted

• Read the docs: Python manuals
• The Python FAQ: for 2.X and 3.X
• Send Python questions to the Python-help list via email
• [tT]kinter GUI resources: here, here, here, and here
• Python tools and packages: ActiveState, Enthought, PyPy, Pillow
• Python training options: mine, search, and the oft-abused wiki
• O'Reilly Python books I've written: here, here, and here
• Python 0.9.1: primitive, but enough to snare a maverick engineer or two
• Yes, it was named after Monty Python (hence the "spam")
• A Python-versus-Perl joke seen on rec.humor.funny

Defunct

• O'Reilly's Python DevCenter resources site [gone, but archived and viewable]
• O'Reilly's Python news site [discontinued: now just a books/videos list]
• The Starship Python community site [still alive, but narrower in scope]
• A list of Python books I know about [amazon.com now lists hundreds]
• The Vaults of Parnassus library site [former add-ons site: try PyPI or a search today]
• More interviews I did: CompuServe 1997, Tech Talk radio 2006, PSF newsletter 2010 [see History]
• Fetch Python from its FTP site [download today over the web at python.org]

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