Python is a free, general purpose, open source, computer programming language. It is 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; integration with external components; and a vast collection of precoded libraries and utilities.
Today, Python's speed of development is leveraged by hundreds of thousands of programmers around the world, in diverse roles such as Internet scripting, systems administration, scientific programming, product customization, instrumentation, data mining, and more. By most accounts, it now ranks as one of the top 5 to 10 most widely-used programming languages in the world. Companies currently using Python include Google, Intel, Disney, YouTube, Industrial Light & Magic, Red Hat, NASA, Lawrence Livermore Lab, Eve Online, Seagate, JPL, Hewlett-Packard, JP Morgan Chase, and many more.
Although general-purpose, Python is often called a scripting language. This is partly because of its sheer ease of use — Python code is typically 1/3 to 1/4 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 use C and C++ libraries; communicate over XML-RPC, SOAP, AJAX, COM and CORBA; import and use Java and .Net class libraries; and more.
But perhaps Python's best asset is simply that it makes software development more rapid and enjoyable. Check out the links below to see why. If you have ample time to kill, you might also try browsing Python's Usenet newsgroup, comp.lang.python.
Python continues to enjoy an active and vigorous community today. It is generally considered to be one of the top 5 or 10 most widely used programming languages in world, and is still growing in popularity by most metrics, including:
There are hundreds (or thousands) of Python resources on the Web. For more information, either run a search or browse these links:
Please note: Some of the following links were fairly dated the last time I revised this section in 2010, but I don't have time to keep this list current. A few longstanding Python sites, including the Vaults of Parnassus, have even ceased to be (insert dead parrot skit here...)
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