What is Python?
Python is a general-purpose programming language that is widely used in a variety of applications, from creating trivial web pages to control systems for rovers on other planets.
The language is scriptable, it is versatile and is the most popular programming language in the world (according to Tiobe, which compiles the top most popular languages).
What is written in Python?
Whatever you want. Any software product, regardless of complexity and specifics, can be created with Python and one of the hundreds of frameworks developed for it.
Web development
To create web applications and websites, third-party libraries like Pyromid, Flask, Django and dozens of others are used to help replace PHP and JavaScript.
They even write full-fledged data management systems in Python, which then become analogous to mastodons like WordPress and Drupal. Python is also used to create web helper tools, such as scrappers that collect information from other people’s web pages.
Desktop Development
Python has been used to build powerful applications and infrastructure, such as GIMP image editor, Ubuntu app store, 3D graphics editors, bittorrent networks, etc. The list goes on and on.
It is also not uncommon for Python to become an integral part of such applications. For example, Sublime Text is written in C++, and its extensions and plugins are written in Python.
So Python can often be found in completely unexpected places.
Mobile development
Apps for iOS and Android are created in hundreds of different languages, and Python is among them. More often, of course, this concerns their server component, because for the interface are responsible more common frameworks or some highly specialized technology. However, for the backend (that is, the internal logic of the program) is often responsible Python.
Video Games
Python is used in game development precisely because of the language’s ability to create solid and well-designed scripts. They are responsible for the movement of characters, the implementation of any action, the transition from one event in the game to another, and so on.
That’s why you can find Python under the hood of many hit games, many of which you probably had a chance to play (for example, the extremely popular World of Tanks).
But if you want you can use the language to create graphical interfaces.
OS
Of course, Windows or Linux are not written in Python (although the language in many of these operating systems is built by default), but subsystems for ATM or mini-computers like Raspberry Pi are often created with Python. The same goes for machine tools, automated mechanisms for temperature control, etc.
Where else is Python used?
Python has many faces, and some of them have dipped into all of science. There are tools like NumPy and Matplotlib that are used in earnest in the scientific field. Experts from NASA and other major corporations use Python scripts for serious computations.
Mathematicians and physicists love Python and it’s one of their most-used languages. Professionals use Python to write full-featured neural networks, program robots to handle their programs, and build the most powerful online data analysis systems on the web, capable of handling colossal amounts of text and numbers.
A lot of “serious” work is done with Python. Not only does it help us out here on Earth, it’s also a big part of our neighbor’s world.
Why is Python so good?
Python is a scripting language with a fairly simple syntax. Beginners it is easier than other languages, and experts have already managed to adapt it to a huge range of tasks. Everyone was satisfied, because the structure and logic in Python meets the needs of all categories of developers, regardless of their skills and scope of activity.
When developing in Python in most cases you need to write much less code than when working with its competitors. The syntax itself is visually cleaner and extremely logical.
Other advantages:
The language works on all platforms, so you can use it to develop programs on anything and for anything.
The language has enormous support and a really impressive collection of add-ons from third-party developers.
It has dynamic typing (you can pass any type of data into functions without specifying it first).
It’s interpreted, which allows you to find bugs in software earlier (before it’s fully assembled into a full application).
Python is also famous for its bug reporting system. The language makes it very clear where and why an error occurred. Unlike C++.
The main disadvantages of Python
Python is slow. It can do a lot of things, but it does a lot of things slower than the competition.
Python is not particularly adequate memory management and often “eats up” more resources than JavaScript or C would use for the same tasks.
Python is strictly tied to system libraries. Hence the difficulties when trying to use the language on new software platforms.
What applications are written in Python?
Python has underpinned dozens of the largest software products on the planet. These include Instagram – the server-side application, Google, Spotify, Netflix, Uber, Dropbox, Pinterest, Reddit, etc.