16 Most Important Python Features and How to Use Them

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In recent years, programming skills have become essential for almost all non-developer jobs. As a result, there is a growing need for a simple programming language that is easy to learn, provides fast edit cycles, and smooth development. Python is a language that meets all of these needs. According to the TIOBE Programming Community Index, Python is one of the top programming languages of 2020. Python’s rise in popularity is due to its use in booming fields such as AI, data mining, and numerical computing.

Let’s explore the Python features and advantages that make it an ideal language for beginners and experts alike.

Easy to Code

Python is a high-level programming language that is effortless to learn. Anyone can learn to code in Python in just a few hours or a few days. Mastering Python and all its advanced concepts, packages, and modules might take some more time. However, learning the basic Python syntax is very easy, as compared to other popular languages like C, C++, and Java.

 Python code is easy to read and understand

Easy to Read

Python code looks like simple English words. There is no use of semicolons or brackets, and the indentations define the code block. You can tell what the code is supposed to do simply by looking at it.

Free and Open-Source

Python is developed under an OSI-approved open source license. Hence, it is completely free to use, even for commercial purposes. It doesn’t cost anything to download Python or to include it in your application. It can also be freely modified and re-distributed. Python can be downloaded from the official Python website.

Robust Standard Library

Python has an extensive standard library available for anyone to use. This means that programmers don’t have to write their code for every single thing unlike other programming languages. There are libraries for image manipulation, databases, unit-testing, expressions, and a lot of other functionalities. In addition to the standard library, there is also a growing collection of thousands of components, which are all available in the Python Package Index.

 Python’s standard library is extensive and robust

Interpreted

When a programming language is interpreted, it means that the source code is executed line by line, and not all at once. Programming languages such as C++ or Java are not interpreted, and hence need to be compiled first to run them. There is no need to compile Python because it is processed at runtime by the interpreter.

Portable

Python is portable in the sense that the same code can be used on different machines. Suppose you write a Python code on a Mac. If you want to run it on Windows or Linux later, you don’t have to make any changes to it. As such, there is no need to write a program multiple times for several platforms.

Object-Oriented and Procedure-Oriented

A programming language is object-oriented if it focuses design around data and objects, rather than functions and logic. On the contrary, a programming language is procedure-oriented if it focuses more on functions (code that can be reused). One of the critical Python features is that it supports both object-oriented and procedure-oriented programming.

Extensible

A programming language is said to be extensible if it can be extended to other languages. Python code can also be written in other languages like C++, making it a highly extensible language.

Expressive

Python needs to use only a few lines of code to perform complex tasks. For example, to display Hello World, you simply need to type one line - print("Hello World"). Other languages like Java or C would take up multiple lines to execute this.

Support for GUI

One of the key aspects of any programming language is support for GUI or Graphical User Interface. A user can easily interact with the software using a GUI. Python offers various toolkits, such as Tkinter, wxPython, and JPython, which allows for GUI’s easy and fast development.

Dynamically Typed

Many programming languages need to declare the type of the variable before runtime. With Python, the type of the variable can be decided during runtime. This makes Python a dynamically typed language.

High-level Language

Python is a high-level programming language because programmers don’t need to remember the system architecture, nor do they have to manage the memory. This makes it super programmer-friendly and is one of the key features of Python.

Simplify Complex Software Development

Python can be used to develop both desktop and web apps and complex scientific and numerical applications. Python’s data analysis features help you create custom big data solutions without so much time and effort. You can also use the Python data visualization libraries and APIs to present data in a more appealing way. Several advanced software developers use Python to accomplish high-end AI and natural language processing tasks.

Other Advanced Programming Features

Python contains several advanced programming features such as generators (used to create iterators with a different approach that most other languages) and list comprehensions (used to create new lists from other iterables). Python also has automatic memory management eliminating the need to manually allocate and free memory in the code.

Dynamic Binding

Dynamic binding, also known as dynamic typing, is a key feature of Python that allows variables to be bound to objects dynamically at runtime. In Python, you don’t need to explicitly declare the data type of a variable when it is created. Instead, the interpreter determines the variable’s type based on the value assigned to it.

Strong Community Support

Python boasts one of the largest and most active programming communities, with millions of developers worldwide contributing to its growth and development. This strong community support is one of Python’s greatest strengths, providing a wealth of resources, documentation, libraries, frameworks, and online forums for learning and collaboration.

“Python is an ideal language for beginners and experts alike, offering a wide range of features and advantages that make it easy to learn and use.” - Python website

Conclusion

There are numerous Python features which make it so special and different from any other programming language. If you want to get a leg up on the competition by learning a new programming language, Python is the best one to start with. With its ease of use, robust standard library, and strong community support, Python is an ideal language for anyone looking to improve their programming skills.

 Python is an ideal language for beginners and experts alike