Python Basics #1 — What is Python?

Programming Language Python
1 min read

Many computer science departments at U.S. universities choose Python as the very first language taught to students. Python consistently ranks at the top of “languages to learn” lists, and is praised for the clean, readable syntax that makes programming approachable for beginners.

This series teaches Python from the ground up: what the language is, how it’s used, and how to write your first programs.

To highlight how compact Python is, here is the canonical “Hello, world” program in C++ — six lines:

hello_world.cpp 
#include <iostream>

int main() {
    std::cout << "Hello, world!\n";
}

The same program in Python is one line:

hello_world.py 
print("Hello, world!")

Origin #

Python was created by Guido van Rossum, a Dutch programmer who started it as a hobby project during Christmas 1989.

Guido van Rossum
Guido van Rossum

High-level language #

Python is a high-level language. “High level” doesn’t mean “advanced”; it means closer to humans than to the machine. C, Java, and Python are high-level. Assembly, which is much closer to machine code, is low-level.

Interpreted language #

Python is interpreted. Programming languages are roughly split into compiled (C, C++) and interpreted (Python, JavaScript, Ruby). Compiled languages run faster because they are translated to machine code ahead of time, but they require a compile step and are tied to a specific platform. Interpreted languages run more slowly but skip the compile step, are cross-platform, and are great for fast iteration and prototyping.

Multi-paradigm #

Python supports object-oriented, procedural, and functional programming. You’re not locked into one style.

Dynamically typed #

Variables don’t need a type declaration. Most modern scripting languages share this property.

Batteries included #

Python ships with a powerful standard library — hence the saying “Python comes with batteries included.”

Where Python is used #

  • Web backend (Django, FastAPI). For the frontend you’d reach for HTML/CSS/JavaScript instead.
  • Desktop GUIs (tkinter, PyQt, PyGUI).
  • Server automation — Python ships with most Linux distributions and macOS, and tools like Ansible / Fabric live in this space.
  • Data analysis, ML, game development, server virtualization.

That wraps up lesson #1. In lesson #2 we’ll install Python on Windows and macOS.

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