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Gideon Oludeyi

Gideon Oludeyi

Passionate about learning and teaching

PYTHON BASICS

What is Python?

A beginner’s introduction to the world of computer programming

2 min readMar 2, 2022

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A dandelion on a field
A dandelion on a field. Photo by Gideon Oludeyi

Python is an interpreted high-level general-purpose programming language.

— Wikipedia

Programming Language

A programming language is a way of communicating with a computer. Computers were originally designed to carry out a set of computations (instructions), but they are unable to understand human language. They understand a language called machine code, which is a set of instructions that they obey. Unfortunately, it is time-consuming and inefficient for us humans to communicate with computers directly in machine code. That is where programming languages come in. They are an additional layer of communication between humans and machines, translating from one language to another. They allow humans to communicate their intent to a computer without having to understand the 0s and 1s behind each instruction.

Easy to use

Python is described as high-level, which means that it closely resembles natural language. This is because it abstracts away a lot of the necessary details that the computer needs to accomplish its task, which has the benefit of allowing the programmer to focus on the main problem. Imagine a high-level programming language as a more proficient translator. You can express your intent more freely, perhaps using idioms and slang, and the translator will understand and fill in the necessary details for the translation to make sense. This makes Python easy to learn and to get started with. It almost reads like a natural language compared to other languages.

General Purpose

Python is also described as general-purpose, which means it is not limited to a specific set of applications. It applies to a wide range of domains, including web development, game development, desktop applications, scientific computations, and task automation.

Conclusion

Python, as a programming language, communicates with the computer to execute a certain task. This occurs by supplying a set of instructions for the computer to carry out, which are packaged together into a computer program. When you write a program, you are essentially giving the computer a to-do list of instructions to execute line-by-line.

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For example, when you enter “Python” in a search engine, it is instructed to display a list of URLs to related sites. When you click the “Send Email” button, an email is sent to a specified email address. Programming languages make it possible to build software applications such as websites, games, and desktop applications using a simple set of rules to communicate with a computer.

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Gideon Oludeyi

Written by Gideon Oludeyi

Passionate about learning and teaching