Python Tutorial

In the early 1990s, Dutch pro­gram­mer Guido van Rossum developed the Python pro­gram­ming language, which soon became a popular tool for writing scripts for audio recording and web de­vel­op­ment. And although there are now more al­tern­at­ives than ever, the dynamic language is still just as popular nearly three decades later. Python pro­gram­ming skills are needed for a wide variety of projects, from web ap­plic­a­tions to embedded systems (such as mi­cro­com­puters in home ap­pli­ances) to en­ter­prise software.

One of the main reasons for Python’s longevity is that it’s much easier for beginners to learn and use than many of the al­tern­at­ives. This tutorial explains why that is and how to get started with the pro­gram­ming language.

Python is one of the most versatile pro­gram­ming languages, mainly because it supports multiple pro­gram­ming paradigms. For example, you can use it for object-oriented pro­gram­ming, aspect-oriented or func­tion­al pro­gram­ming. From the very beginning, Guido van Rossum’s goal was to develop a language that would help pro­gram­mers write programs with easily readable source code. The found­a­tion of the language is a clear, logical and easy-to-learn syntax, which uses English keywords instead of cryptic symbols and requires com­par­at­ively few language con­structs.

But it’s not just Python’s clear and easy-to-un­der­stand design that makes it so easy for beginners to learn the pro­gram­ming language. The language also has other ad­vant­ages:

• Unlike C, Python doesn’t require curly braces because the block structure is auto­mat­ic­ally delimited by the in­dent­a­tions used for struc­tur­ing.
• If a line contains only a single statement, no semicolon is required at the end of the line.
• Python doesn’t use variable de­clar­a­tions.
• Programs written in Python are usually much more stream­lined than ap­plic­a­tions coded in tra­di­tion­al languages (such as Java), but are just as effective.
• Python provides an extensive standard library.
• The pro­gram­ming language is available on various platforms thanks to a highly portable in­ter­pret­er.
• Ongoing de­vel­op­ment (in co­oper­a­tion with the large Python community) is ensured.

Python is great for beginners, but that doesn’t mean the language isn’t useful for ex­per­i­enced de­velopers. This dynamic, universal language is extremely popular and competes with other es­tab­lished pro­gram­ming languages in many different areas of ap­plic­a­tion. Despite its simple structure, Python programs offer the same cap­ab­il­it­ies, per­form­ance and quality as other al­tern­at­ives. In short, Python is a very worth­while language to learn, whether for pro­fes­sion­al or personal projects.

Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, you should first consider whether Python is the best choice for the projects you’re planning. For example, if you’re primarily in­ter­ested in web de­vel­op­ment or similar ap­plic­a­tions, standard languages like PHP and Perl are essential. But Python also com­ple­ments these languages and is a great asset for web de­vel­op­ment projects: You can use it to create very high-quality web ap­plic­a­tions, es­pe­cially when combined with the CMS framework Django. The same is true when it comes to en­ter­prise software, which is normally pro­grammed in languages such as Java and C but can also be written in languages such as Python.

Python is extremely useful for de­vel­op­ing embedded systems. These minicom­puters, which perform simple mon­it­or­ing or control functions or process data or signals, are used in almost all household ap­pli­ances, from routers to TVs to re­fri­ger­at­ors to washing machines. Python is highly re­com­men­ded for pro­gram­ming these types of ap­plic­a­tions. Not sur­pris­ingly, Python is also a popular software platform for DIY projects with the Raspberry PI.

Python is also important for pro­gram­ming software with machine learning functions: You can easily create simple ap­plic­a­tions that don’t require deep learning (or pro­cessing of natural in­form­a­tion) using the three Python libraries:scikit-learn, NumPy and pandas. Python has long been the first choice for these ap­plic­a­tions. Beyond the field of machine learning, the pro­gram­ming language is also useful if you work in the mul­tidiscip­lin­ary field of data science and want to program software for math­em­at­ic­al or stat­ist­ic­al cal­cu­la­tions and forecasts.

You need two things to learn how to program in Python: A code editor and the correct version of Python for your operating system.

The text editor can be any basic text editor such as the Notepad ap­plic­a­tion that comes with Windows. To make things even easier when you get started with Python, use an editor like Notepad++, which has ad­di­tion­al features like syntax high­light­ing or auto­com­plete. For a list of re­com­men­ded solutions for Windows macOS, Linux or Android, see our article on the best code editors.

You can download the version you need from the download centre of the official Python website. Here you’ll find ex­ecut­able files, packaged source files or docker images for different operating systems. You can choose from packages for Windows, macOS and Linux as well as packages for iOS, Solaris and IBM i (formerly OS/400). If you’re just starting out with Python, we recommend down­load­ing the latest version. You can also download several older versions going all the way back to the binary files of Python 1.1.

If you’re new to pro­gram­ming, Python’s extensive online doc­u­ment­a­tion, which explains the basics of the language, probably won’t be of much help. These types of manuals are usually intended for advanced users with ex­per­i­ence in other pro­gram­ming languages.

If you’re an absolute beginner, there are excellent tutorials on the web that offer much better in­tro­duc­tions to Python pro­gram­ming. We’ll introduce you to three of the most in­ter­est­ing and useful platforms for Python beginners below.

“How to think like a Computer Scientist” is the title of an online Python tutorial by Allen B. Downey, Jeffrey Elkner and Chris Meyers. You can find it at python4kids. This helpful book uses Python to introduce pro­gram­ming to kids or anyone else in­ter­ested in taking their first steps in the world of pro­gram­ming.

If you’re new to Python, check out the Python tutorial for absolute beginners from Stack Abuse. This resource is intended for those who have had ab­so­lutely no previous ex­per­i­ence with Python. Having some existing pro­gram­ming knowledge will help you get ahead, but it is def­in­itely not required.

free­Co­de­Camp.org is a highly re­com­men­ded YouTube channel for anyone who wants to learn Python. Their tutorial offers a full in­tro­duc­tion to Python’s core concepts and makes it easy for anyone to follow along. The Python tutorials playlist by Pro­gram­ming with Mosh is also great for absolute beginners: Getting started with Python is a breeze with these in­struc­tion­al videos (the list is con­stantly growing), which explain the basics of Python in easy-to-un­der­stand language.

The websites and YouTube channels mentioned above are also great resources if you already have solid pro­gram­ming skills and you’re looking for more in-depth tutorials. In addition to the Python tutorials for beginners, you can check out tutorials and videos that teach you how to program in Python for specific ap­plic­a­tion scenarios.

Practice makes perfect when it comes to learning Python pro­gram­ming. As with all pro­gram­ming languages, practical ex­per­i­ence is essential, whether you’re com­pletely new to pro­gram­ming or you’re learning Python as a second, third or fourth language. The online Python tutorials listed above are helpful, but you also must actively apply what you’ve learned. Test your knowledge right away by pro­gram­ming a mock project of your own.

Regularly check to see if you’ve un­der­stood the fun­da­ment­als of Python and in­ter­n­al­ise the basics well enough to teach them to someone else. You’ll soon be on your way to writing your own Python programs.