Features of Python Programming language
What is Python:-
Python is a general purpose, dynamic, high-level, and interpreted programming language. It supports Object Oriented programming approach to develop applications. It is simple and easy to learn and provides lots of high-level data structures.
Python is easy to learn yet powerful and versatile scripting language, which makes it attractive for Application Development.
Python's syntax and dynamic typing with its interpreted nature make it an ideal language for scripting and rapid application development.
Python supports multiple programming pattern, including object-oriented, imperative, and functional or procedural programming styles.
Python is not intended to work in a particular area, such as web programming. That is why it is known as multipurpose programming language because it can be used with web, enterprise, 3D CAD, etc.
We don't need to use data types to declare variable because it is dynamically typed so we can write a=10 to assign an integer value in an integer variable.
Python makes the development and debugging fast because there is no compilation step included in Python development, and edit-test-debug cycle is very fast.
 |
| Features of Python |
{tocify} $title= {Table
of Contents}
Features of Python
Python is a famous
programming framework known for its simple object-oriented characteristic
advantage. A few of Python’s other notable features are the library functions
& modules are reliable in nature and facilitate the developers with its
interactive mode. It also supports other program theories, provides dynamic
code check for types, easy access for database application, user interface
programming is quite uncomplicated, anyone can get their hand on python
programming as it is available for free & open source. It consents to
expandability & scalability, and finally, the most important feature is it
is effortless to self-learn, understand & write the code.
1. Easy to Learn
When we say the word ‘easy’, we mean it in different contexts. Python being simple to code is one of the main reasons the language has become popular over time. The simple syntax allows people to work with it easily.
It allows people who are not
familiar with programming to pick up a new language quickly. It also gives an
advantage to developers to code without having to debug or have errors in the
code too often.
a. Easy to Code
Python is very easy to code as compared to
other popular languages like Java and C++.
Anyone can learn Basic Python syntax
in just a few hours. Thus, it is programmer-friendly.
b. Easy to Read
Being a high-level language, Python code is quite like English.
Looking at it, you can tell what the code is supposed to do.
Also, since it is dynamically-typed, it
mandates indentation. This aids readability.
2. Expressive
First, let’s learn what is expressiveness. Suppose we have two
languages A and B, and all programs that can be made in A can be made in B
using local transformations.
However, there are some programs that can be made in B, but not
in A, using local transformations. Then, B is said to be more expressive than
A.
Python provides us with a myriad of constructs that help us focus on
the solution rather than on the syntax.
This is one of the outstanding python features that tell you why
you should learn Python.
3. Free and Open-Source
When Guido Van Rossum was
developing the language, he was set on the idea that the language should be
available to all. This allowed people from all around the world to access the
language with ease and also help build the language further.
Firstly, Python is freely available. You can
download it from the Python Official Website.
Secondly, it is open-source. This means that
its source code is available to the public. You can download it, change it, use
it, and distribute it.
This is called FLOSS(Free/Libre and Open Source
Software).
As the Python community, we’re all headed toward one goal- an
ever-bettering Python.
4. High-Level
Python is a high-level language. This means that as programmers,
we don’t need to remember the system architecture.
Also, we need not manage memory. This makes it more programmer-friendly
and is one of the key python features.
5. Portable
Let’s assume you’ve written a Python code for your Windows
machine. Now, if you want to run it on a Mac, you don’t need to make changes to
it for the same.
In other words, you can take one code and run it on any machine. This makes
Python a portable language.
However, you must avoid any system-dependent features in this
case.
6. Interpreted
If you’re familiar with any languages like C++ or Java, you must
first compile it, and then run it. But in Python, there is no need to compile
it.
Internally, its source code is converted into an immediate form
called bytecode.
So, all you need to do is to run your Python code without
worrying about linking to libraries, and a few other things.
By interpreted, we mean the source code is executed line by
line, and not all at once. Because of this, it is easier to debug your
code.
Also, interpreting makes it just slightly slower than Java, but that does not matter compared to the benefits it offers.
In a compiled language, the program is first converted into binary code so that your computer can understand it.
Only after this first step does your computer execute the code, as depicted in the flowchart below.
In interpreted languages, the step
of first converting the main code into a binary code does not take place. The
code is then converted to machine code during runtime, which makes the language
easy to debug and portable, as seen in the flowchart below.
7. Object-Oriented
A programming language that can model the real world is said to
be object-oriented. It focuses on objects and combines data and functions.
Contrarily, a procedure-oriented language revolves around
functions, which are code that can be reused.
Python supports both procedure-oriented and object-oriented
programming which is one of the key python features.
It also supports multiple inheritance, unlike Java.
A class is a blueprint for such an object. It is an abstract
data type and holds no values.
8. Extensible
If needed, you can write some of your Python code in other languages like C++. This makes Python an extensible language, meaning that it can be extended to other languages.
9. Embeddable
We just saw that we can put code in other languages in our Python source code. However, it is also possible to put our Python code in a source code in a different language like C++. This allows us to integrate scripting capabilities into our program of the other language.
10. Large Standard Library
Python downloads with a large library that you can use so you
don’t have to write your own code for every single thing.
There are libraries for regular expressions,
documentation-generation, unit-testing, web browsers, threading, databases,
CGI, email, image manipulation, and a lot of other functionality.
11. GUI Programming
Software is not user-friendly until its GUI is made. A user can
easily interact with the software with a GUI.
Python offers various libraries for making Graphical user
interface for your applications.
For this, you can use Tkinter, wxPython or Jython. These
toolkits allow you for easy and fast development of GUI.
12. Dynamically Typed
Python is dynamically-typed. This means that the type for a value is decided at runtime, not in advance. This is why we don’t need to specify the type of data while declaring it. This is all about the features of the python programming language.
13. Robust Standard Libraries
The libraries of python
are very vast that include various modules and functions that support various
operations working in various data types such as regular
expressions etc.
14. Supports Various Programming Paradigms
With support to all the
features of an object-oriented language, Python also supports the
procedure-oriented paradigm. It supports multiple
inheritances as well. This is all possible due to its large and robust
libraries that contain functions for everything.
15. Automatic Garbage Collection
Python also initiates
automatic garbage collection for great memory and performance management. Due
to this, memory can be utilized to its maximum, thus making the application
more robust.
16. Databases
The database of an application is one of the crucial parts that also need to be supported by the corresponding programming language being used. Python supports all the major databases that can be used in an application, such as MYSQL, ORACLE, etc. Corresponding functions for their database operations have already been defined in python libraries. one needs to include those files in code to use it.
17. Simple Syntax
When it comes to programming,
understanding the syntax of the language is very important. The program will
not work if it’s not syntactically correct. With different languages, the ease
with which you code, comes with practice.
In Python, the developers of the
language wanted to make sure that the language would be as close to the human
language as possible. This was done while keeping the programming rules in mind
and hence the language has a simple syntax.
18. Memory Allocation
Now that we have established how a
high-level language and interpreted language works, let’s look at how the
memory allocation in such a language takes place.
In Python, memory allocation
becomes easier because when you assign a value to a variable, automatic memory
allocation takes place during run time.
19.Procedure-oriented
Python is one of the few
programming languages that supports both object-oriented programming as well as
Procedural Programming.
This feature allows you to work on
the reusable functions that focus on solving the problem at hand.
You can also use this feature to
call the same function in other areas of the code as well.
20. Classes
Python is an object-oriented
programming language that allows the use of classes.
You can use OOP to create multiple
parent and child classes. These classes follow the class inheritance rules.
This allows the parent class to override any method of the child class. The
mechanism also allows the child to call a method from the parent class.
21. Extensible
Python has a very helpful feature
that allows developers who are comfortable and confident with C/C++/Java
code to write code in these languages. This makes Python extensible as you can
extend these languages onto other programming languages.
Since C and C++ are not
interpreted languages, the code is first converted to machine code and then run
on Python.
22. Embeddable
Python also has a feature that allows you to generate codes in other languages and embed them into python code or vice versa.
23.Wide Range of In-Built Functions
Other than the functions that
these wide ranges of libraries provide, Python has a set of extensive inbuilt
functions that can be used without accessing any library.
24. Supports exception handling
When programs are created, a good
number of them will have certain functions, inputs or problems that, when
faced, can disrupt the flow of the program.
These are considered to be
exceptions. If they are identified in advance can prevent the program from
either crashing or going into an infinite loop.
Python is one of the few languages
that are capable of supporting exception handling to a great extent which makes
it a developer and programmers favorite language.
25. Robust
Python’s ability to work well with
exceptions and exception handling, as well as its ease of use and comprehension
has made the error rate in the code reduce. This makes the language a very
reliable and robust language to work with.
26. Advance features
Python has a wide range of other
advanced features such as list, dataframes, dictionary, and generator
comprehensions.
Popular Python Interview Questions
Here are some of the frequently asked Interview Questions from
this topic:
- How is Python Portable Language?
- How will you define a Dynamically Typed language?
- What is FLOSS?
- What do you mean by “Python is Expressive”?
- List 16 Features of Python.
Summary
In this tutorial, we learned about various features of Python. We saw that it is interpreted, dynamically-typed, and object-oriented. It is also portable, free, and easy.
Its robust library,
support for different paradigms, and GUI programming feature and integrated
feature make it the most suitable language among others.
Now that’s some motivation to dive into the world of Python.
Start learning Python now to give a boost to your Career.
We looked at how the features
separated python from other languages and how it made life different and
relatively easier for programmers and developers across the world.