The BEST Programming Language for Beginners

Alexander Coutras

September 1st, 2022

Python is a high-level programming language. This means that the python programming language resembles more closely a natural language than the language that the computer understands at its core (ones and zeros). The python language has advanced data structures and packages, making it very convenient to use. Additionally, python is an object-oriented programming language. This means that the design of python software is organized around objects (essentially data) rather than logic and functions. Overall, Python is a very dynamic and easy-to-use programming language due to its design and readability of the language.

Brief History of Python

Python was created by Guido van Rossum, a Dutch programmer who worked at many top companies including Google and Microsoft, although his most famous achievement was his idea for the Python language. Rossum first released the language on February 20, 1991. Since then, Python has grown more popular due to its convenience and practicality. Currently, the programming language index (PYPL) popularity recognizes Python as the number one programming language.

Why Python?

Python’s simple and easy-to-learn syntax allows for increased productivity during programming. Additionally, Python contains extensive built-in modules that promote more efficient programming. In comparison to languages such as Java, Python programs are on average third to one-fifth the length of their Java counterparts. In recent years, Python has risen to gain greater popularity, becoming one of software developers' most used programming languages.

Using Python

Python can run on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and is fairly easy to set up and use. There are tons of code IDEs (integrated development environments) out there that you can use to code in Python. Some popular ones include PyDev, PyCharm, Visual Studio Code, and many more. One of my personal favorites is replit.com which is a web IDE. It is convenient and easy to use and supports many different languages.

Python in the Real World

Python has many effective real-world applications. For example, Python can be used to create artificial intelligence with machine learning. Python is a great language for data science as it contains many built-in packages. Such packages include Pandas for data analysis, NumPy for high-level scientific computing, and Keras + TensorFlow + Scikit-learn for machine learning. Python’s extensive collection of practical packages allows developers to do almost anything in the language, but Python is especially useful for the creation of artificial intelligence and machine learning models, one of the hottest fields in computer science today. Learning Python sets opens the door to many more opportunities in the field of computer science, and sets you up for a successful future career.