What Is Python?

Python is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that has several implications across software engineering, web development, data science, automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence. The language’s dynamic semantics, high-level built in data structures, dynamic typing and dynamic binding make it one of the most useful languages for rapid application development.

Related Reading From Built In’s Tech DictionaryWhat Is Pandas?

What Is Python Used For?

Python is an incredibly versatile programming language. Often used to develop an application or website’s back end, Python is capable of processing data, communicating with databases, routing URLs and ensuring overall security. 

Python also offers the ability to easily automate processes through scripting, making it key for software testing, troubleshooting and bug tracking.

Python is most commonly used in website development, software development, task automation, data analysis and data visualization. While also playing a key role in data science tasks and is used to perform complex statistical calculations, visualize data and create machine learning algorithms.

Automation

As a scripting language, one of Python's main features is automation, and it is widely used for such tasks. Scripting enables developers to create a list of instructions for a computer to carry out when executed. Common scripts include renaming files, editing CSV documents or scraping information from a website. Much of this is possible through Python's simple syntax and its supported external libraries. 

Data Science and Analytics

Python is widely used by data scientists and analysts. The language includes capabilities for reading and writing files, which come in handy for collecting, cleaning, labeling and analyzing large datasets. Additionally, data scientists can use Python to build machine learning models with the collected data for further analysis or prediction systems.

Software Development and Testing

Python’s versatile libraries and pre-built modules include tools for web development, database interactions, API development and server-side logic, to name a few. Because of its easy-to-understand syntax, it is a go-to language for many developers. Python can also be used for software testing by leveraging its automation capabilities. With Python, developers can write scripts with detailed actions like clicking certain buttons or making an API call, which eliminates the need for manual testing.

More on Python From Built In Experts4 Python Tools to Simplify Your Life

Python in AI and ML Development

Python is one of the primary languages used in artificial intelligence and machine learning, with major companies like OpenAI, Google and Meta all relying heavily on it. Its popularity in the industry is no accident, as it’s ideal for building and experimenting with intelligent systems.

Python’s influence on the AI industry can be traced back to the late 1990s and early 2000s. During that time Google adopted Python as one of its main programming languages for its search architecture and internal tools. It favored Python over Perl, one of the other popular scripting languages at the time, because it was easier to read, write, maintain and support, making it better suited for large-scale development projects — including many of the AI developments happening today. Google later hired Python’s creator Guido van Rossum, further reinforcing its commitment to the language.  

Fast forward to today and Python is still widely used across big tech companies, and has become a leading language in AI and ML development —for many of the same reasons Google embraced it back in the 1990s. Python allows data scientists to test ideas, build models and analyze data with libraries like TensorFlow, PyTorch and NumPy. In particular, these libraries make it easier to build machine learning algorithms and neural networks. 

With Python, AI developers can use libraries such as Transformers and spaCy for natural language processing and to train large language models on expansive datasets. Additionally, the language can be used for several other AI-powered features like fraud detection in banking systems, self-driving capabilities and computer vision.

Python Syntax Explained

Python is considered one of the easiest programming languages to learn, and is often the first language for many developers. Guido van Rossum, Python’s creator, wanted the language to be as readable as possible and chose not to use symbols like code blocks ({}) or semicolons (;). Instead, to show structure, Python relies on indentation. 

For instance, in the following code example, the line under age >= 18 is indented, which tells Python it should only execute if the condition is true.

age = 20 

if age >= 18:
   print(“You’re on adult”) 

Other aspects of Python syntax follow a similar easy to read logic. Declaring variables is done through assignments rather than explicit declaration and does not require the developer to specify a data type, it is instead inferred based on the assigned value For example, the following variables are all different types but are assigned in an identical manner. 

# assigning an integer
age = 25

# assigning a string
name = “Hello”

# assigning a boolean value
is_active = false

What Makes Python So Powerful?

Python’s power comes in its versatility. The language is easy to use and can be implemented across a variety of technical processes, such as programming, machine learning, data science, automation and more.

While other languages may be capable of handling tasks in all of these environments, Python stands out due to its ability to excel in each. Python is also an interpreted language, meaning that it executes instructions directly without the need for compilation, resulting in faster development and easier debugging

Additionally, there are a variety of Python frameworks and libraries, such as Django and Flask, that add additional power and tailored capabilities to specific processes.

Related Reading on Built In5 Ways to Write More Pythonic Code

Frequently Asked Questions