Python (programming language): Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|General-purpose programming language}}
'''Python''' is an [[Interpreter (computer software)|interpreted]], interactive [[programming language]] created by [[Guido van Rossum]] in [[1990]]. Python is fully [[dynamic typing|dynamically typed]] and uses [[memory management|automatic memory management]]; it is thus similar to [[Perl]], [[Ruby programming language|Ruby]], [[Scheme programming language|Scheme]], [[Smalltalk]], and [[Tcl]]. Python is developed as an [[open source]] project, managed by the non-profit [[Python Software Foundation]]. Python 2.4.1 was released on [[March 30]], [[2005]].
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox programming language
| logo = Python-logo-notext.svg
| logo size = 150px
| paradigm = [[Multi-paradigm]]: [[Object-oriented programming|object-oriented]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=General Python FAQ – Python 3 documentation|url=https://docs.python.org/3/faq/general.html#what-is-python|access-date=2024-07-07|website=docs.python.org}}</ref> [[Procedural programming|procedural]] ([[Imperative programming|imperative]]), [[Functional programming|functional]], [[Structured programming|structured]], [[Reflective programming|reflective]]
| released = {{start date and age|1991|02|20|df=y}}<ref name="alt-sources-history">{{cite web |url=https://www.tuhs.org/Usenet/alt.sources/1991-February/001749.html |title=Python 0.9.1 part 01/21 |publisher=alt.sources archives |access-date=2021-08-11 |archive-date=11 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811171015/https://www.tuhs.org/Usenet/alt.sources/1991-February/001749.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
| designer = [[Guido van Rossum]]
| developer = [[Python Software Foundation]]
| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|edit|reference|P548=Q2804309|P348}}
| latest release date = {{start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|single|P548=Q2804309|P348|P577}}}}
| latest preview version = 3.14.0rc2 <!-- {{wikidata|property|edit|reference|P548=Q51930650|P348}} doesn't work, nor what AI suggested as fix: {{#invoke:Wikidata | claim | P348 | qualifier = P548:Q51930650 | rank = best }} -->
| latest preview date = {{start date and age|2025|08|14|df=y}} <!-- {{start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|Q28865 |P548=Q51930650|P348|P577}}}} nor
{{#invoke:Wikidata | qualifier | P348 | P577 | qualifier = P548:Q51930650 | rank = best | formatting = date }}
-->
| typing = [[Duck typing|duck]], [[Dynamic typing|dynamic]], [[Strong and weak typing|strong]];<ref>{{Cite web|title=Why is Python a dynamic language and also a strongly typed language |url=https://wiki.python.org/moin/Why%20is%20Python%20a%20dynamic%20language%20and%20also%20a%20strongly%20typed%20language|access-date=2021-01-27|website=Python Wiki |archive-date=14 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314173706/https://wiki.python.org/moin/Why%20is%20Python%20a%20dynamic%20language%20and%20also%20a%20strongly%20typed%20language|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Optional typing|optional type annotations]]{{efn|since 3.5, but those hints are ignored, except with unofficial tools<ref name="type_hint-PEP">{{cite web|url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0483/|title=PEP 483 – The Theory of Type Hints|website=Python.org|access-date=14 June 2018|archive-date=14 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614153558/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0483/|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
| implementations = [[CPython]], [[PyPy]], [[MicroPython]], [[CircuitPython]], [[IronPython]], [[Jython]], [[Stackless Python]]
| operating system = [[Cross-platform]]{{efn|
*'''Tier 1''': 64-bit [[Linux]], [[macOS]]; 64- and 32-bit [[Windows]] 10+<ref>{{Cite web |title=PEP 11 – CPython platform support {{!}} peps.python.org |url=https://peps.python.org/pep-0011/ |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=Python Enhancement Proposals (PEPs) |language=en}}</ref><!-- Not "Windows for IoT and embedded systems"; NOT UNIX, it's not listed, nor any Unix-like, maybe implied Possibly Windows 8.1 is also supported on at least Python 3.9? Might also work on latest, seems too minor to mention, for any Python version. Windows 7 and 8 are prevented to work on Python 3.9, though it might not rule out 8.1, also some info like this might be a bit wrong:
 
"Windows 8 and newer for Python 3.9
{{Infobox_Software |
FreeBSD 10 and newer
name = Python |
macOS Snow Leopard (macOS 10.6, 2008) and newer"
screenshot = [[Image:PythonProgLogo.gif|150px]] |
-->
caption = Python logo |
*'''Tier 2''': E.g. 32-bit [[WebAssembly]] (WASI) <!-- (WASI SDK, Wasmtime) meaning wasm32-unknown-wasi; wasm32-unknown-emscripten is unsupported since 3.13. aarch64-pc-windows-msvc and powerpc64le-unknown-linux-gnu -->
developer = Python Software Foundation |
*'''Tier 3''': 64-bit [[Android (operating system)|Android]]<!-- too much trivia to mention "5.0+", even if true, it seemingly is, and corresponding API levels, but thouse are ancient, possibly even only way more recent is officially supported? -->,<ref>{{Cite web |title=PEP 738 – Adding Android as a supported platform {{!}} peps.python.org |url=https://peps.python.org/pep-0738/ |access-date=2024-05-19 |website=Python Enhancement Proposals (PEPs) |language=en}}</ref> [[iOS]], [[FreeBSD]], and (32-bit) [[Raspberry Pi OS]]<br />Unofficial (or has been known to work): Other [[Unix-like]]/[[BSD]] variants) and a few other platforms<!-- Used to support many more, only few support latest 3.9+ --><ref>{{Cite web |title=Download Python for Other Platforms |url=https://www.python.org/download/other/ |access-date=2023-08-18 |website=Python.org |language=en |archive-date=27 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127015815/https://www.python.org/download/other/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=test – Regression tests package for Python – Python 3.7.13 documentation |url=https://docs.python.org/3.7/library/test.html?highlight=android#test.support.is_android |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=docs.python.org |archive-date=17 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517151240/https://docs.python.org/3.7/library/test.html?highlight=android#test.support.is_android |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=platform – Access to underlying platform's identifying data – Python 3.10.4 documentation |url=https://docs.python.org/3/library/platform.html?highlight=android |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=docs.python.org |archive-date=17 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517150826/https://docs.python.org/3/library/platform.html?highlight=android |url-status=live}}</ref>}}
latest_release_version = 2.4.1 |
 
latest_release_date = [[March 30]], [[2005]] |
<!--
operating_system = [[Cross-platform]] |
https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-committers@python.org/thread/K757345KX6W5ZLTWYBUXOXQTJJTL7GW5/
genre = [[Programming language]] |
 
license = [http://www.python.org/2.4.1/license.html Python Software Foundation License] |
* Alpine / musl is not supported, because our test suite is failing due to bugs and missing features in musl libc.
website = [http://www.python.org www.python.org] |
* NetBSD and OpenBSD are in a similar state as Alpine: no stable buildbot and AFAIK tests are failing
* [outdated]
* Cygwin and MinGW are officially unsupported, see bpo-45537 and bpo-45538
 
..
 
The policy Brett is proposing just makes that explicit and gives us something to point to when someone comes up with a patch to support PDP-11 or when someone's patch for Android breaks Windows. I don't think we'll wind up with tier support police; if a core dev wants to take responsibility for a patch for a platform that is not tier 3 or above they can still do that, but if it breaks things for a supported platform it will be reverted.
 
..
 
E.g. Android support was even funded by the PSF recently. [outdated]
Also note that the stdlib does in fact support other Python implementations reusing (parts of) it, e.g. Jython, PyPy and IronPython. Again, without core devs backing these.
-->| license = [[Python Software Foundation License]]
| file ext = .py, .pyw, .pyz,<!-- Too much trivia?: (since 3.5), since 3.8 latest supported and Python 3.5.10 Sept. 5, 2020--><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0441/ |last=Holth |first=Moore |date=30 March 2014 |access-date=12 November 2015 |title=PEP 0441 – Improving Python ZIP Application Support |archive-date=26 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226141117/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0441/%20 |url-status=live}}</ref><br />
.pyi, .pyc, .pyd<!-- too much trivia: .pyo (before 3.5)<ref>File extension .pyo was removed in Python 3.5. See [https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0488/ PEP 0488] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200601133202/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0488/ |date=1 June 2020}}</ref> -->
| website = {{URL|https://www.python.org/|python.org}}
| dialects = [[Cython]], [[RPython]], [[Bazel (software)|Starlark]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Starlark Language|url=https://docs.bazel.build/versions/master/skylark/language.html|access-date=25 May 2019|archive-date=15 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615140534/https://docs.bazel.build/versions/master/skylark/language.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
| influenced by = [[ABC (programming language)|ABC]],<ref name="faq-created"/> [[Ada (programming language)|Ada]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.adaic.com/standards/83lrm/html/lrm-11-03.html#11.3 |title=Ada 83 Reference Manual (raise statement) |access-date=7 January 2020 |archive-date=22 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022155758/http://archive.adaic.com/standards/83lrm/html/lrm-11-03.html#11.3 |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=August 2025|reason=The source does not talk about Python. The "raise" keyword it describes is very similar to the Python version, but this is original research (see WP:OR).}} [[ALGOL 68]],<ref name="98-interview"/> <br />[[APL (programming language)|APL]],<ref name="python.org">{{cite web|url=https://docs.python.org/3/library/itertools.html|title=itertools – Functions creating iterators for efficient looping – Python 3.7.1 documentation|website=docs.python.org|access-date=22 November 2016|archive-date=14 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614153629/https://docs.python.org/3/library/itertools.html |quote=This module implements a number of iterator building blocks inspired by constructs from APL, Haskell, and SML. |url-status=live}}</ref> [[C (programming language)|C]],<ref name="AutoNT-1"/> [[C++]],<ref name="classmix"/> [[CLU (programming language)|CLU]],<ref name="effbot-call-by-object"/> [[Dylan (programming language)|Dylan]],<ref name="AutoNT-2"/> <br />[[Haskell]],<ref name="AutoNT-3"/><ref name="python.org"/> [[Icon (programming language)|Icon]],<ref name="AutoNT-4"/> [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]],<ref name="AutoNT-6"/> {{nowrap|<br />[[Modula-3]]}},{{r|98-interview}}<ref name="classmix"/> [[Perl]],<ref>{{cite web |title=re – Regular expression operations – Python 3.10.6 documentation |url=https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html |website=docs.python.org |access-date=2022-09-06 |quote=This module provides regular expression matching operations similar to those found in Perl. |archive-date=18 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718132241/https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Standard ML]]<ref name="python.org"/>
| influenced = [[Apache Groovy]], [[Boo (programming language)|Boo]], [[Cobra (programming language)|Cobra]], [[CoffeeScript]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://coffeescript.org/|title=CoffeeScript|website=coffeescript.org|access-date=3 July 2018|archive-date=12 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612100004/http://coffeescript.org/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[D (programming language)|D]], [[F Sharp (programming language)|F#]], [[GDScript]], [[Go (programming language)|Go]], [[JavaScript]],<ref>{{cite web
|title=Perl and Python influences in JavaScript
|date=24 February 2013
|website=www.2ality.com
|url=https://www.2ality.com/2013/02/javascript-influences.html
|access-date=15 May 2015
|archive-date=26 December 2018
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226141121/http://2ality.com/2013/02/javascript-influences.html%0A
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|title=Chapter 3: The Nature of JavaScript; Influences
|last=Rauschmayer
|first=Axel
|website=O'Reilly, Speaking JavaScript
|url=https://speakingjs.com/es5/ch03.html
|access-date=15 May 2015
|archive-date=26 December 2018
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226141123/http://speakingjs.com/es5/ch03.html%0A
|url-status=live
}}</ref> [[Julia (programming language)|Julia]],<ref name=Julia/> [[Mojo (programming language)|Mojo]],<ref name="Mojo">{{Cite web |last=Krill |first=Paul |date=2023-05-04 |title=Mojo language marries Python and MLIR for AI development |url=https://www.infoworld.com/article/3695588/mojo-language-marries-python-and-mlir-for-ai-development.html |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=InfoWorld |language=en |archive-date=5 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505064554/https://www.infoworld.com/article/3695588/mojo-language-marries-python-and-mlir-for-ai-development.html |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Nim (programming language)|Nim]], [[Ring (programming language)|Ring]],<ref name="The Ring programming language and other languages">{{cite web |url=https://ring-lang.sourceforge.net/doc1.6/introduction.html#ring-and-other-languages |title=Ring and other languages |author=Ring Team |date=4 December 2017 |work=ring-lang.net |publisher=[[ring-lang]] |access-date=4 December 2017 |archive-date=25 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225175312/http://ring-lang.sourceforge.net/doc1.6/introduction.html#ring-and-other-languages |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]],<ref name="bini"/> [[Swift (programming language)|Swift]],<ref name="lattner2014">{{Cite web |url=http://nondot.org/sabre/ |title=Chris Lattner's Homepage |last=Lattner |first=Chris |date=3 June 2014 |access-date=3 June 2014 |publisher=Chris Lattner |quote=The Swift language is the product of tireless effort from a team of language experts, documentation gurus, compiler optimization ninjas, and an incredibly important internal dogfooding group who provided feedback to help refine and battle-test ideas. Of course, it also greatly benefited from the experiences hard-won by many other languages in the field, drawing ideas from Objective-C, Rust, Haskell, Ruby, Python, C#, CLU, and far too many others to list. |archive-date=25 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225175312/http://nondot.org/sabre/ |url-status=live}}</ref> [[V (programming language)|V]]<ref name="vpeople">{{Cite web |title=V documentation (Introduction) |url=https://github.com/vlang/v/blob/master/doc/docs.md#introduction |access-date=2024-12-24|website=GitHub |language=en}}</ref>
<!-- Do not put in as there's also a pure Java implementation (Jython): | programming language = [[C (programming language)|C]] -->| wikibooks = Python Programming
}}
 
'''Python''' is a [[high-level programming language|high-level]], [[general-purpose programming language]]. Its design philosophy emphasizes [[code readability]] with the use of [[significant indentation]].<ref name="AutoNT-7"/>
 
Python is [[type system#DYNAMIC|dynamically type-checked]] and [[garbage collection (computer science)|garbage-collected]]. It supports multiple [[programming paradigm]]s, including [[structured programming|structured]] (particularly [[procedural programming|procedural]]), [[Object-oriented programming|object-oriented]] and [[functional programming]].
 
[[Guido van Rossum]] began working on Python in the late 1980s as a successor to the [[ABC (programming language)|ABC]] programming language. Python&nbsp;3.0, released in 2008, was a major revision not completely [[backward-compatible]] with earlier versions. Recent versions, such as Python 3.12, have added capabilites and keywords for typing (and more; e.g. increasing speed); helping with (optional) [[static typing]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=mypy - Optional Static Typing for Python |url=https://mypy-lang.org/ |access-date=2025-08-17 |website=mypy-lang.org}}</ref> Currently only versions in the 3.x series are supported.
 
Python consistently ranks as one of the most popular programming languages, and it has gained widespread use in the [[machine learning]] community.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2022 |url=https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2022/ |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=Stack Overflow |language=en |archive-date=27 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627175307/https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2022/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The State of Developer Ecosystem in 2020 Infographic|url=https://www.jetbrains.com/lp/devecosystem-2020/|access-date=2021-03-05|website=JetBrains: Developer Tools for Professionals and Teams|language=en|archive-date=1 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301062411/https://www.jetbrains.com/lp/devecosystem-2020/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="tiobecurrent">{{cite web |title=TIOBE Index |publisher=TIOBE |url=https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/ |access-date=3 January 2023 |quote=The TIOBE Programming Community index is an indicator of the popularity of programming languages |archive-date=25 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225101948/https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/ |url-status=live}} Updated as required.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Healy |first=John |last2=McInnes |first2=Leland |last3=Weir |first3=Colin |date=2017 |title=Bridging the Cyber-Analysis Gap: The Democratization of Data Science |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26267404 |journal=The Cyber Defense Review |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=109–118 |doi=10.2307/26267404 |issn=2474-2120 |quote="Python is the lingua franca of data science and machine learning."}}</ref> It is widely taught as an introductory programming language.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sultana |first=Simon G. |last2=Reed |first2=Philip A. |date=2017 |title=Curriculum for an Introductory Computer Science Course: Identifying Recommendations from Academia and Industry |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/90023144 |journal=The Journal of Technology Studies |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=80–92 |doi=10.2307/90023144 |issn=1071-6084}}</ref>
 
==History==
{{Main|History of Python}}
Python was created in the early [[1990s]] by [[Guido van Rossum]] at [[Stichting Mathematisch Centrum]] (CWI) in the [[Netherlands]] as a successor of the [[ABC programming language]]. Guido is Python's principal author, although it includes many contributions from others. Guido's continuing central role in deciding the direction of Python is jokingly acknowledged by referring to him as its [[Benevolent Dictator for Life]] (BDFL).
[[File:Guido van Rossum in PyConUS24.jpg|thumb|311x311px|The designer of Python, [[Guido van Rossum]], at PyCon US 2024]]
Python was conceived in the late 1980s<ref name="venners-interview-pt-1"/> by [[Guido van Rossum]] at [[Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica]] (CWI) in the [[Netherlands]] (he first released it in 1991 as Python&nbsp;0.9.0.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Rossum|first=Guido Van|date=2009-01-20|title=The History of Python: A Brief Timeline of Python|url=https://python-history.blogspot.com/2009/01/brief-timeline-of-python.html|access-date=2021-03-05|website=The History of Python|archive-date=5 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605032200/https://python-history.blogspot.com/2009/01/brief-timeline-of-python.html|url-status=live}}</ref>); it was conceived as a successor to the [[ABC (programming language)|ABC]] programming language, which was inspired by [[SETL]],<ref name="AutoNT-12"/> capable of [[exception handling]] and interfacing with the [[Amoeba (operating system)|Amoeba]] operating system.<ref name="faq-created"/> Python implementation began in December,&nbsp;1989.<ref name="timeline-of-python"/> Van Rossum assumed sole responsibility for the project, as the lead developer, until 12 July 2018, when he announced his "permanent vacation" from responsibilities as Python's "[[benevolent dictator for life]]" (BDFL); this title was bestowed on him by the Python community to reflect his long-term commitment as the project's chief decision-maker.<ref name="lj-bdfl-resignation"/> (He has since come out of retirement and is self-titled "BDFL-emeritus"<!-- on his Twitter-->.) In January&nbsp;2019, active Python core developers elected a five-member Steering Council to lead the project.<ref>{{cite web |title=PEP 8100 |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-8100/ |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=4 May 2019 |archive-date=4 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604235027/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-8100/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=PEP 13 – Python Language Governance|url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0013/|access-date=2021-08-25|website=Python.org|language=en|archive-date=27 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527000035/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0013/|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
The name ''Python'' derives from the British comedy series [[Monty Python's Flying Circus]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Briggs |first1=Jason R. |title=Python for kids: a playful introduction to programming |last2=Lipovača |first2=Miran |date=2013 |publisher=No Starch Press |isbn=978-1-59327-407-8 |___location=San Francisco, Calif}}</ref> (See {{slink||Naming}}.)
The last version released from CWI was Python 1.2. In 1995, Guido continued his work on Python at the [[Corporation for National Research Initiatives]] (CNRI) in [[Reston, Virginia]] where he released several versions of the software. Python 1.6 was the last of the versions released by CNRI. In 2000, Guido and the Python core development team moved to BeOpen.com to form the BeOpen PythonLabs team. Python 2.0 was the first and only release from BeOpen.com.
 
Python 2.0 was released on 16 October 2000, with many major new features such as [[list comprehension]]s, [[cycle detection|cycle-detecting]] garbage collection, [[reference counting]], and [[Unicode]] support.<ref name="newin-2.0"/> Python 2.7's [[end-of-life product|end-of-life]] was initially set for 2015, and then postponed to 2020 out of concern that a large body of existing code could not easily be forward-ported to Python&nbsp;3.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://legacy.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0373/ |title=PEP 373 – Python 2.7 Release Schedule |work=python.org |access-date=9 January 2017 |archive-date=19 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519075520/https://legacy.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0373/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0466/ |title=PEP 466 – Network Security Enhancements for Python 2.7.x |work=python.org |access-date=9 January 2017 |archive-date=4 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604232833/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0466/ |url-status=live}}</ref> It no longer receives security patches or updates.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.python.org/doc/sunset-python-2/|title=Sunsetting Python 2|website=Python.org|language=en|access-date=22 September 2019|archive-date=12 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112080903/https://www.python.org/doc/sunset-python-2/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0373/|title=PEP 373 – Python 2.7 Release Schedule|website=Python.org|language=en|access-date=22 September 2019|archive-date=13 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113033257/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0373/|url-status=live}}</ref> While Python 2.7 and older versions are officially unsupported, a different unofficial Python implementation, [[PyPy]], continues to support Python 2, i.e., "2.7.18+" (plus 3.10), with the plus signifying (at least some) "[[backporting|backported]] security updates".<ref>{{Cite web |last=mattip |date=2023-12-25 |title=PyPy v7.3.14 release |url=https://www.pypy.org/posts/2023/12/pypy-v7314-release.html |access-date=2024-01-05 |website=PyPy |language=en |archive-date=5 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105132820/https://www.pypy.org/posts/2023/12/pypy-v7314-release.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
Following the release of Python 1.6, and after Guido van Rossum left CNRI to work with commercial software developers, it became clear that the ability to use Python with software available under the [[GNU General Public License]] (GPL) was very desirable. CNRI and the Free Software Foundation (FSF) interacted to develop enabling wording changes to the Python license. Python 1.6.1 is essentially the same as Python 1.6, with a few minor bug fixes, and with a different license that enables later versions to be GPL-compatible. Python 2.1 is a derivative work of Python 1.6.1, as well as of Python 2.0.
 
Python&nbsp;3.0 was released on 3 December 2008, was a major revision not completely [[backward-compatible]] with earlier versions, with some new semantics and changed syntax. Python&nbsp;2.7.18, released in 2020, was the last release of Python&nbsp;2.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pythoninsider.blogspot.com/2020/04/python-2718-last-release-of-python-2.html|title= Python 2.7.18, the last release of Python 2|last=Peterson|first=Benjamin|date=20 April 2020|website=Python Insider|access-date=27 April 2020|archive-date=26 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426204118/https://pythoninsider.blogspot.com/2020/04/python-2718-last-release-of-python-2.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Several releases in the Python 3.x series have added new syntax to the language, and made a few (considered very minor) backwards-incompatible changes.
After Python 2.0 was released by BeOpen.com, Guido van Rossum and the other PythonLabs developers joined Digital Creations. All intellectual property added from this point on, starting with Python
2.1 and its alpha and beta releases, is owned by the Python Software Foundation (PSF), a non-profit modeled after the Apache Software Foundation.
 
{{As of|2025|08|14|since=n}}, Python 3.13 is the latest stable release and Python 3.9 is the oldest supported release.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Status of Python versions |url=https://devguide.python.org/versions/ |access-date=2025-08-05 |website=Python Developer's Guide |language=en}}</ref> Releases receive two years of full support followed by three years of security support.
== Philosophy ==
 
==Design philosophy and features==
Python is a [[Multi-paradigm programming language|multi-paradigm language]]. This means that, rather than forcing coders to adopt one particular style of coding, it permits several. [[Object orientation]], [[structured programming]], [[functional programming]], [[aspect-oriented programming]], and more recently, [[design by contract]] are all supported. Python is [[dynamic typing|dynamically type-checked]] and uses [[garbage collection (computer science)|garbage collection]] for [[memory management]]. An important feature of Python is [[dynamic name resolution]], which binds method and variable names during program execution.
Python is a [[multi-paradigm programming language]]. Object-oriented programming and structured programming are fully supported, and many of their features support functional programming and [[aspect-oriented programming]] – including [[metaprogramming]]<ref name=AutoNT-13/> and [[metaobject]]s.<ref name=AutoNT-14/> Many other paradigms are supported via extensions, including [[design by contract]]<ref name=AutoNT-15/><ref name=AutoNT-16/> and [[logic programming]].<ref name=AutoNT-17/> Python is often referred to as a ''[[glue language|<nowiki/>'glue language']]''<ref>{{cite web |title=Glue it all together with Python |url=https://www.python.org/doc/essays/omg-darpa-mcc-position/ |access-date=2024-09-30 |df=dmy-all |website=Python.org |language=en}}</ref> because it is purposely designed to be able to integrate components written in other languages.
 
Python uses dynamic typing and a combination of [[reference counting]] and a cycle-detecting garbage collector for [[memory management]].<ref name=Reference_counting>{{cite web |title=Reference counts |department=Extending and embedding the Python interpreter |website=Docs.python.org |lang=en |url=https://docs.python.org/extending/extending.html#reference-counts |url-status=live |access-date=5 June 2020 |quote=Since Python makes heavy use of <code>malloc()</code> and <code>free()}</code>, it needs a strategy to avoid memory leaks as well as the re‑use of freed memory. The method chosen is called ''reference counting''. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018063230/http://docs.python.org/extending/extending.html#reference-counts |archive-date=18 October 2012 }}</ref> It uses dynamic [[Name resolution (programming languages)|name resolution]] ([[late binding]]), which binds method and variable names during program execution.
While offering choice in coding methodology, Python's designers reject exuberant syntax, such as in Perl, in favor of a more sparse, less cluttered one. As with Perl, Python's developers expressly [http://python.org/dev/culture.html promote a particular "culture" or ideology] based on what they want the language to be, favoring language forms they see as "beautiful", "explicit" and "simple". For the most part, Perl and Python users differ in their interpretation of these terms and how they are best implemented (see [http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ThereIsMoreThanOneWayToDoIt TIMTOWTDI] and [http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?PythonPhilosophy PythonPhilosophy]).
 
Python's design offers some support for functional programming in the "[[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]] tradition". It has {{code|filter}}, {{code|map}}, and {{code|reduce}} functions; [[list comprehension]]s, [[associative array|dictionaries]], [[set (mathematics)|sets]], and [[generator (computer programming)|generator]] expressions.<ref name=AutoNT-59/> The standard library has two modules ({{codes|itertools}} and {{codes|functools}}) that implement functional tools borrowed from [[Haskell]] and [[Standard ML]].<ref name=AutoNT-18/>
Another important goal of the Python developers is making Python fun to use. This is reflected in the origin of the name (after the television series ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]''); in the common practice of using Monty Python references in example code; and in an occasionally playful approach to tutorials and reference materials.
 
Python's core philosophy is summarized in the [[Zen of Python]] (PEP 20), which includes aphorisms such as these:<ref name=PEP20/>
Although Python is sometimes classified as a "[[scripting programming language]]", it has been used to develop many large software projects such as the [[Zope]] application server and the [[Mnet]] and [[BitTorrent]] file sharing systems. It is also extensively used by [[Google]]. Python proponents prefer to call it a high level [[dynamic programming language]], on the grounds that "scripting language" implies a language that is only used for simple [[shell script]]s or that refers to a language like [[JavaScript]]: much simpler and, for most purposes, less capable than "real" programming languages such as Python.
* Beautiful is better than ugly.
* Explicit is better than implicit.
* Simple is better than complex.
* Complex is better than complicated.
* Readability counts.<!-- Note this isn't a full list, just some of the more significant aphorisms -->
 
However, Python features regularly violate these principles and have received criticism for adding unnecessary language bloat.<ref name=Python-Changes-2014>{{cite web |last=Lutz |first=Mark |date=January 2022 |website=Learning Python |title=Python changes 2014+ |url=https://learning-python.com/python-changes-2014-plus.html |url-status=live |access-date=25 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315075935/https://learning-python.com/python-changes-2014-plus.html |archive-date=15 March 2024 }}</ref> Responses to these criticisms note that the Zen of Python is a guideline rather than a rule.<ref name=Confusion-regarding-a-rule-in-the-Zen-of-Python>{{cite web |url=https://discuss.python.org/t/confusion-regarding-a-rule-in-the-zen-of-python/15927 |title=Confusion regarding a rule in 'the Zen of Python' |date=2022-05-03 |df=dmy-all |department=Discussions |series=Python help |website=Python.org |access-date=2024-02-25 |archive-date=25 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225221142/https://discuss.python.org/t/confusion-regarding-a-rule-in-the-zen-of-python/15927 |url-status=live}}</ref> The addition of some new features had been controversial: Guido van Rossum resigned as ''Benevolent Dictator for Life'' after conflict about adding the assignment expression operator in {{nobr|Python 3.8&thinsp;.}}<ref name=The-Most-Controversial-Python-Walrus-Operator>{{cite web |last=Ambi |first=Chetan |date=2021-07-04 |df=dmy-all |title=The most controversial Python 'walrus operator' |website=Python simplified (pythonsimplified.com) |url=https://pythonsimplified.com/the-most-controversial-python-walrus-operator/ |url-status=live |access-date=2024-02-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230827154931/https://pythonsimplified.com/the-most-controversial-python-walrus-operator/ |archive-date=27 August 2023 }}</ref><ref name=The-Controversy-Behind-The-Walrus-Operator-in-Python>{{cite web |last=Grifski |first=Jeremy |date=2020-05-24 |df=dmy-all |title=The controversy behind the 'walrus operator' in Python |website=The Renegade Coder (therenegadecoder.com) |url=https://therenegadecoder.com/code/the-controversy-behind-the-walrus-operator-in-python/ |url-status=live |access-date=2024-02-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231228135749/https://therenegadecoder.com/code/the-controversy-behind-the-walrus-operator-in-python/ |archive-date=28 December 2023 }}</ref>
Another important goal of the language is ease of extensibility. New built-in modules are easily written in [[C programming language|C]] or [[C plus plus|C++]]. Python can also be used as an extension language for existing modules and applications that need a programmable interface.
 
Nevertheless, rather than building all functionality into its core, Python was designed to be highly [[extensible]] via modules. This compact modularity has made it particularly popular as a means of adding programmable interfaces to existing applications. Van Rossum's vision of a small core language with a large standard library and easily extensible interpreter stemmed from his frustrations with ABC, which represented the opposite approach.<ref name=venners-interview-pt-1/>
Though the designer of Python is somewhat hostile to [[functional programming]] and the [[Lisp programming language|Lisp]] tradition, there are significant parallels between the philosophy of Python and that of minimalist Lisp-family languages such as [[Scheme programming language|Scheme]].
Many past Lisp programmers have found Python appealing for this reason.
 
Python claims to strive for a simpler, less-cluttered syntax and grammar, while giving developers a choice in their coding methodology. In contrast to [[Perl]]'s motto "[[there is more than one way to do it]]", Python advocates an approach where "there should be one – and preferably only one – obvious way to do it".<!-- removed comment with specious demand to leave punctuation contrary to Wikipedia MOS unchanged: Reason given, to duplicate lack of spaces in quote, is a grotesquely false justification. --><ref name=PEP20/> In practice, however, Python provides many ways to achieve a given goal. There are, for example, at least three ways to format a string literal, with no certainty as to which one a programmer should use.<ref name=Python-String-Formatting-Best-Practices>{{cite web |last=Bader |first=Dan |title=Python string formatting best practices |website=Real Python (realpython.com) |url=https://realpython.com/python-string-formatting/ |url-status=live |access-date=2024-02-25 |df=dmy-all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240218083506/https://realpython.com/python-string-formatting/ |archive-date=18 February 2024 }}</ref> [[Alex Martelli]] is a [[Fellow]] at the [[Python Software Foundation]] and Python book author; he wrote that "To describe something as 'clever' is ''not'' considered a compliment in the Python culture."<ref name=AutoNT-19/>
== Data types and structures ==
Since Python is a [[dynamic typing|dynamically typed]] language, Python ''values,'' not variables, carry type. This has implications for many aspects of the way the language functions.
 
Sometimes, Python's developers reject patches to the [[CPython]] reference implementation that would offer increases in speed at the cost of clarity.{{cn|date=August 2025}} Execution speed can be improved by moving speed-critical functions to extension modules written in languages such as [[C (programming language)|'C']], or by using a [[just-in-time compiler]] like [[PyPy]]. It is also possible to [[#Cross-compilers to other languages|cross-compile to other languages]]; but this approach either fails to achieve the expected speed-up, since Python is a very [[dynamic language]], or only a restricted subset of Python is compiled (with potential minor semantic changes).<ref name=PyJL/>
All values in Python are references to objects, and these references are passed to functions by value; a function cannot change the value a variable references in its calling function. Some people (including Guido van Rossum himself) have called this parameter-passing scheme "Call by object reference."
 
Python's developers aim for the language to be fun to use. This goal is reflected in the name – a tribute to the British comedy group [[Monty Python]]<ref name=whyname/> – and in playful approaches to some tutorials and reference materials. For instance, some code examples use the terms "spam" and "eggs" (in reference to [[Spam (Monty Python)|a Monty Python sketch]]), rather than the typical terms [[foobar|"foo" and "bar"]].<ref>{{cite web |title=15&nbsp;ways Python is a powerful force on the web |url=https://insidetech.monster.com/training/articles/8114-15-ways-python-is-a-powerful-force-on-the-web |url-status=dead |access-date=3 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511065650/http://insidetech.monster.com/training/articles/8114-15-ways-python-is-a-powerful-force-on-the-web |archive-date=11 May 2019 }}</ref><ref name=pprint-doc>{{cite web |title=<code>pprint</code> – data pretty printer – {{nobr|Python 3.11.0}} documentation |website=docs.python.org |quote=&nbsp; <code>stuff {{=}} ['spam', 'eggs', 'lumberjack', 'knights', 'ni']</code>&nbsp; |url=https://docs.python.org/3/library/pprint.html |url-status=live |access-date=2022-11-05 |df=dmy-all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122224848/https://docs.python.org/3/library/pprint.html |archive-date=22 January 2021 }}</ref>
Among dynamically typed languages, Python is moderately type-checked. Implicit conversion is defined for numeric types, so one may validly multiply a complex number by a long integer (for instance) without explicit casting. However, there is no implicit conversion between (e.g.) numbers and strings; a string is an invalid argument to a mathematical function expecting a number.
 
A common [[neologism]] in the Python community is ''pythonic'', which has a wide range of meanings related to program style: Pythonic code may use Python [[Programming idiom|idioms]] well; be natural or show fluency in the language; or conform with Python's minimalist philosophy and emphasis on readability.<ref>{{cite web |title=Code style |department=The hitchhiker's guide to Python |website=docs.python-guide.org |url=https://docs.python-guide.org/writing/style |url-status=live |access-date=20 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127154341/https://docs.python-guide.org/writing/style/ |archive-date=27 January 2021 }}</ref>
===Base types===
Python has a broad range of basic data types. Alongside conventional integer and floating point arithmetic, it transparently supports [[bignum|arbitrarily large integers]] and [[complex numbers]].
 
==Syntax and semantics==
It supports the usual panoply of string operations, with one caveat: strings in Python are [[immutable object]]s. This means that any string operation, such as a substitution of characters, that in other programming languages might alter a string will instead return a new string in Python.
{{Main|Python syntax and semantics}}
[[File:Hello World in Python.png|alt=Block of Python code showing sample source code|thumb|231x231px|An example of Python code and indentation]]
[[File:Af-Helloworld (C Sharp).svg|alt=C code featuring curly braces and semicolon|thumb|233x233px|Example of [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]] code with curly braces and semicolons]]
 
Python is meant to be an easily readable language. Its formatting is visually uncluttered and often uses English keywords where other languages use punctuation. Unlike many other languages, it does not use [[curly bracket programming language|curly brackets]] to delimit blocks, and semicolons after statements are allowed but rarely used. It has fewer syntactic exceptions and special cases than [[C (programming language)|C]] or [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]].<ref name="AutoNT-52"/>
=== Collection types ===
 
===Indentation===
One of the very useful aspects of Python is the concept of ''collection'' (or ''container'') types. In general a collection is an object that contains other objects in a way that is easily referenced or ''indexed''. Collections come in two basic forms: ''sequences'' and ''mappings''.
{{Main|Python syntax and semantics#Indentation}}
 
Python uses [[whitespace character|whitespace]] indentation, rather than curly brackets or keywords, to delimit [[block (programming)|blocks]]. An increase in indentation comes after certain statements; a decrease in indentation signifies the end of the current block.<ref name="AutoNT-53"/> Thus, the program's visual structure accurately represents its semantic structure.<ref name=guttag>{{Cite book |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-52962-4 |last=Guttag |first=John V. |title=Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python: With Application to Understanding Data |date=12 August 2016}}</ref> This feature is sometimes termed the [[off-side rule]]. Some other languages use indentation this way; but in most, indentation has no semantic meaning. The recommended indent size is four spaces.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/|title=PEP 8 – Style Guide for Python Code|website=Python.org|access-date=26 March 2019|archive-date=17 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417223549/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/|url-status=live}}</ref>
The ordered sequential types are lists (dynamic [[arrays]]), tuples, and strings. All sequences are indexed positionally (0 through ''length'' &minus; 1) and all but strings can contain any type of object, including multiple types in the same sequence. Both strings and tuples are immutable, making them perfect candidates for dictionary keys (see below). Lists, on the other hand, are mutable; elements can be inserted, deleted, modified, appended, or sorted ''in place''.
 
===Statements and control flow===
On the other side of the collections coin are mappings, which are unordered types implemented in the form of ''dictionaries'' which "map" a set of immutable keys, to corresponding elements much like a mathematical function. The keys in a dictionary must be of an immutable Python type such as an integer or a string.
Python's [[statement (computer science)|statements]] include the following:
For example, one could define a dictionary having a string <code>"foo"</code> mapped to the integer 42 or vice versa. This is done under the covers via a [[hash function]] which makes for faster lookup times, but is also the culprit for a dictionary's lack of order and is the reason mutable objects (i.e. other dictionaries or lists) cannot be used as keys.
* The [[Assignment (computer science)|assignment]] statement, using a single equals sign <code>=</code>
Dictionaries are also central to the internals of the language as they reside at the core of all Python objects and classes: the mapping between variable names (strings) and the values which the names reference is stored as a dictionary (see [[Python programming language#Object system|Object system]]). Since these dictionaries are directly accessible (via an object's <code>__dict__</code> attribute), [[Metaprogramming (programming)|meta-programming]] is a surprisingly straightforward and natural process in Python.
* The <code>[[if-then-else|if]]</code> statement, which conditionally executes a block of code, along with <code>[[Conditional (computer programming)#If–then(–else)|else]]</code> and <code>elif</code> (a contraction of <code>[[Conditional (computer programming)#Else if|else if]]</code>)
* The <code>[[Foreach#Python|for]]</code> statement, which iterates over an ''iterable'' object, capturing each element to a local variable for use by the attached block
* The <code>[[While loop#Python|while]]</code> statement, which executes a block of code as long as boolean condition is true
* The <code>[[Exception handling syntax#Python|try]]</code> statement, which allows exceptions raised in its attached code block to be caught and handled by <code>except</code> clauses (or new syntax <code>except*</code> in Python 3.11 for exception groups<ref>{{Cite web |title=8. Errors and Exceptions – Python 3.12.0a0 documentation |url=https://docs.python.org/3.11/tutorial/errors.html |access-date=2022-05-09 |website=docs.python.org |archive-date=9 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220509145745/https://docs.python.org/3.11/tutorial/errors.html |url-status=live}}</ref>); the <code>try</code> statement also ensures that clean-up code in a <code>finally</code> block is always run regardless of how the block exits
* The <code>raise</code> statement, used to raise a specified exception or re-raise a caught exception
* The <code>class</code> statement, which executes a block of code and attaches its local namespace to a [[class (computer science)|class]], for use in object-oriented programming
* The <code>def</code> statement, which defines a [[function (computing)|function]] or [[method (computing)|method]]
* The <code>[[dispose pattern#Language constructs|with]]</code> statement, which encloses a code block within a context manager, allowing [[resource acquisition is initialization|resource-acquisition-is-initialization]] (RAII)-like behavior and replacing a common try/finally idiom<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.python.org/download/releases/2.5/highlights/|title=Highlights: Python 2.5|website=Python.org|access-date=20 March 2018|archive-date=4 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804120408/https://www.python.org/download/releases/2.5/highlights/|url-status=live}}</ref> Examples of a context include acquiring a [[lock (computer science)|lock]] before some code is run, and then releasing the lock; or opening and then closing a [[Computer file|file]]
* The <code>[[break statement|break]]</code> statement, which exits a loop
* The <code>continue</code> statement, which skips the rest of the current iteration and continues with the next
* The <code>del</code> statement, which removes a variable—deleting the reference from the name to the value, and producing an error if the variable is referred to before it is redefined {{efn|<code>del</code> in Python does not behave the same way <code>delete</code> in languages such as [[C++]] does, where such a word is used to call the [[Destructor (computer programming)|destructor]] and deallocate heap memory.}}
* The <code>pass</code> statement, serving as a [[NOP (code)|NOP]] (i.e., no operation), which is syntactically needed to create an empty code block
* The <code>[[assertion (programming)|assert]]</code> statement, used in debugging to check for conditions that should apply
* The <code>yield</code> statement, which returns a value from a [[generator (computer programming)#Python|generator]] function (and also an operator); used to implement [[coroutine]]s
* The <code>return</code> statement, used to return a value from a function
* The <code>[[include directive|import]]</code> and <code>from</code> statements, used to import modules whose functions or variables can be used in the current program
* The <code>match</code> and <code>case</code> statements, analogous to a [[switch statement]] construct, which compares an expression against one or more cases as a control-flow measure
 
The assignment statement (<code>=</code>) binds a name as a [[pointer (computer programming)|reference]] to a separate, dynamically allocated [[object (computer science)|object]]. Variables may subsequently be rebound at any time to any object. In Python, a variable name is a generic reference holder without a fixed [[Type system|data type]]; however, it always refers to ''some'' object with a type. This is called [[Type system#Dynamic type checking and runtime type information|dynamic typing]]—in contrast to [[statically-typed]] languages, where each variable may contain only a value of a certain type.
A [[set]] collection type was added to the core language in version 2.4. A set is an unindexed, unordered collection that contains no duplicates. This container type has many applications where only ''membership'' information is required and acts essentially like a dictionary without values. There are two types of sets: ''set'' and ''frozenset'', the only difference being that ''set'' is mutable and ''frozenset'' is immutable. Elements in a set must be hashable and immutable. Thus, for example, a ''frozenset'' can be an element of a regular ''set'' whereas the opposite is not true.
 
Python does not support [[tail call]] optimization or [[first-class continuations]]; according to Van Rossum, the language never will.<ref name="AutoNT-55"/><ref name="AutoNT-56"/> However, better support for [[coroutine]]-like functionality is provided by extending Python's generators.<ref name="AutoNT-57"/> Before 2.5, generators were [[lazy evaluation|lazy]] [[iterator]]s; data was passed unidirectionally out of the generator. From Python&nbsp;2.5 on, it is possible to pass data back into a generator function; and from version 3.3, data can be passed through multiple stack levels.<ref name="AutoNT-58"/>
Python also provides extensive collection manipulating abilities such as built in containment checking and a generic iteration protocol.
 
=== Object system Expressions===
Python's [[expression (computer science)|expressions]] include the following:
* The <code>+</code>, <code>-</code>, and <code>*</code> operators for mathematical addition, subtraction, and multiplication are similar to other languages, but the behavior of division differs. There are two types of division in Python: [[floor division]] (or integer division) <code>//</code>, and floating-point division <code>/</code>.<ref>{{cite web|title=division|url=https://docs.python.org|website=python.org|access-date=30 July 2014|archive-date=20 July 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060720033244/http://docs.python.org/|url-status=live}}</ref> Python uses the <code>**</code> operator for exponentiation.
* Python uses the <code>+</code> operator for string concatenation. The language uses the <code>*</code> operator for duplicating a string a specified number of times.
* The <code>@</code> infix operator<!-- was introduced in Python 3.5--> is intended to be used by libraries such as [[NumPy]] for [[matrix multiplication]].<ref name=PEP465>{{cite web |title=PEP 0465 – A dedicated infix operator for matrix multiplication |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0465/ |website=python.org |access-date=1 January 2016 |archive-date=4 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604224255/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0465/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Python3.5Changelog>{{cite web |title=Python 3.5.1 Release and Changelog |url=https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-351/ |website=python.org |access-date=1 January 2016 |archive-date=14 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514034938/https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-351/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
* The syntax <code>:=</code>, called the "walrus operator", was introduced in Python 3.8. This operator assigns values to variables as part of a larger expression.<ref name=Python3.8Changelog>{{cite web |title=What's New in Python 3.8 |url=https://docs.python.org/3.8/whatsnew/3.8.html |access-date=14 October 2019 |archive-date=8 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608124345/https://docs.python.org/3.8/whatsnew/3.8.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
* In Python, <code>==</code> compares two objects by value. Python's <code>is</code> operator may be used to compare object identities (i.e., comparison by reference), and comparisons may be chained—for example, {{code|lang=python|code=a <= b <= c}}.
* Python uses <code>and</code>, <code>or</code>, and <code>not</code> as Boolean operators.
* Python has a type of expression called a ''[[List comprehension#Python|list comprehension]]'', and a more general expression called a ''generator expression''.<ref name="AutoNT-59"/>
* [[Anonymous function]]s are implemented using [[Lambda (programming)|lambda expressions]]; however, there may be only one expression in each body.
* Conditional expressions are written as {{code|lang=python|code=x if c else y}}.<ref name="AutoNT-60"/> (This is different in operand order from the <code>[[?:|c ? x : y]]</code> operator common to many other languages.)
* Python makes a distinction between [[list (computer science)|lists]] and [[tuple]]s. Lists are written as {{code|lang=python|code=[1, 2, 3]}}, are mutable, and cannot be used as the keys of dictionaries (since dictionary keys must be [[immutable]] in Python). Tuples, written as {{code|lang=python|code=(1, 2, 3)}}, are immutable and thus can be used as the keys of dictionaries, provided that all of the tuple's elements are immutable. The <code>+</code> operator can be used to concatenate two tuples, which does not directly modify their contents, but produces a new tuple containing the elements of both. For example, given the variable <code>t</code> initially equal to {{code|lang=python|code=(1, 2, 3)}}, executing {{code|lang=python|code=t = t + (4, 5)}} first evaluates {{code|lang=python|code=t + (4, 5)}}, which yields {{code|lang=python|code=(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)}}; this result is then assigned back to <code>t</code>—thereby effectively "modifying the contents" of <code>t</code> while conforming to the immutable nature of tuple objects. Parentheses are optional for tuples in unambiguous contexts.<ref>{{cite web|title=4. Built-in Types – Python 3.6.3rc1 documentation|url=https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#tuple|website=python.org|access-date=1 October 2017|archive-date=14 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614194325/https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#tuple|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Python features ''sequence unpacking'' where multiple expressions, each evaluating to something assignable (e.g., a variable or a writable property) are associated just as in forming tuple literal; as a whole, the results are then put on the left-hand side of the equal sign in an assignment statement. This statement expects an ''iterable'' object on the right-hand side of the equal sign to produce the same number of values as the writable expressions on the left-hand side; while iterating, the statement assigns each of the values produced on the right to the corresponding expression on the left.<ref>{{cite web|title=5.3. Tuples and Sequences – Python 3.7.1rc2 documentation|url=https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/datastructures.html#tuples-and-sequences|website=python.org|access-date=17 October 2018|archive-date=10 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610050047/https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/datastructures.html#tuples-and-sequences|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Python has a "string format" operator <code>%</code> that functions analogously to <code>[[printf]]</code> format strings in the C language—e.g. {{code|2=python|1="spam=%s eggs=%d" % ("blah", 2)}} evaluates to <code>"spam=blah eggs=2"</code>. In Python&nbsp;2.6+ and 3+, this operator was supplemented by the <code>format()</code> method of the <code>str</code> class, e.g., {{code|2=python|1="spam={0} eggs={1}".format("blah", 2)}}. Python&nbsp;3.6 added "f-strings": {{code|2=python|1=spam = "blah"; eggs = 2; f'spam={spam} eggs={eggs}'}}.<ref name="pep-0498">{{cite web |title=PEP 498 – Literal String Interpolation |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0498/ |website=python.org |access-date=8 March 2017 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615184141/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0498/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
* Strings in Python can be [[concatenated]] by "adding" them (using the same operator as for adding integers and floats); e.g., {{code|2=python|1="spam" + "eggs"}} returns <code>"spameggs"</code>. If strings contain numbers, they are concatenated as strings rather than as integers, e.g. {{code|2=python|1="2" + "2"}} returns <code>"22"</code>.
* Python supports [[string literal]]s in several ways:
** Delimited by single or double quotation marks; single and double quotation marks have equivalent functionality (unlike in [[Unix shell]]s, [[Perl]], and Perl-influenced languages). Both marks use the backslash (<code>\</code>) as an [[escape character]]. [[String interpolation]] became available in Python&nbsp;3.6 as "formatted string literals".<ref name="pep-0498"/>
** Triple-quoted, i.e., starting and ending with three single or double quotation marks; this may span multiple lines and function like [[here document]]s in shells, Perl, and [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]].
** [[Raw string]] varieties, denoted by prefixing the string literal with <code>r</code>. Escape sequences are not interpreted; hence raw strings are useful where literal backslashes are common, such as in [[regular expression]]s and [[Windows]]-style paths. (Compare "<code>@</code>-quoting" in [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]].)
* Python has [[array index]] and [[array slicing]] expressions in lists, which are written as <code>a[key]</code>, {{code|lang=python|code=a[start:stop]}} or {{code|lang=python|code=a[start:stop:step]}}. Indexes are [[zero-based numbering|zero-based]], and negative indexes are relative to the end. Slices take elements from the ''start'' index up to, but not including, the ''stop'' index. The (optional) third slice [[Parameter (computer programming)|parameter]], called ''step'' or ''stride'', allows elements to be skipped or reversed. Slice indexes may be omitted—for example, {{code|lang=python|code=a[:]}} returns a copy of the entire list. Each element of a slice is a [[shallow copy]].
 
In Python, a distinction between expressions and statements is rigidly enforced, in contrast to languages such as [[Common Lisp]], [[Scheme (programming language)|Scheme]], or [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]]. This distinction leads to duplicating some functionality, for example:
In Python, everything is an object, even classes. Classes, as objects, have a class, which is known as their metaclass. Python also supports [[multiple inheritance]] and [[Mixin|mixins]] (see also [[wiki:MixinsForPython|MixinsForPython]]).
* [[List comprehensions]] vs. <code>for</code>-loops
* [[Conditional (programming)|Conditional]] expressions vs. <code>if</code> blocks
* The <code>eval()</code> vs. <code>exec()</code> built-in functions (in Python&nbsp;2, <code>exec</code> is a statement); the former function is for expressions, while the latter is for statements
 
A statement cannot be part of an expression; because of this restriction, expressions such as list and <code>dict</code> comprehensions (and lambda expressions) cannot contain statements. As a particular case, an assignment statement such as {{code|lang=python|code=a = 1}} cannot be part of the conditional expression of a conditional statement.
The language supports extensive introspection of types and classes. Types can be read and compared&mdash; types are instances of a type.
The attributes of an object can be extracted as a dictionary.
 
===Methods===
Operators can be overloaded in Python by defining special member functions&mdash;for instance, defining <code>__add__</code> on a class permits one to use the <code>+</code> operator on members of that class.
[[Method (computer programming)|Methods]] of objects are functions attached to the object's class; the syntax for normal methods and functions, {{code|lang=python|code=instance.method(argument)}}, is [[syntactic sugar]] for {{code|lang=python|code=Class.method(instance, argument)}}. Python methods have an explicit <code>[[this (computer programming)|self]]</code> parameter to access [[instance data]], in contrast to the implicit self (or <code>this</code>) parameter in some object-oriented programming languages (e.g., [[C++]], [[Java (programming language)|Java]], [[Objective-C]], [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]]).<ref name="AutoNT-61"/> Python also provides methods, often called ''dunder methods'' (because their names begin and end with double underscores); these methods allow user-defined classes to modify how they are handled by native operations including length, comparison, [[arithmetic operations|arithmetic]], and type conversion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sweigart |first1=Al |title=Beyond the Basic Stuff with Python: Best Practices for Writing Clean Code |year=2020 |publisher=No Starch Press |isbn=978-1-59327-966-0 |page=322 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7GUKEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA322 |language=en |access-date=7 July 2021 |archive-date=13 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813194312/https://books.google.com/books?id=7GUKEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA322 |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
== Syntax =Typing===
[[File:Python 3.13 Standrd Type Hierarchy-en.svg|thumb|The standard type hierarchy in Python&nbsp;3]]
Python uses [[duck typing]], and it has typed objects but untyped variable names. Type constraints are not checked at definition time; rather, operations on an object may fail at usage time, indicating that the object is not of an appropriate type. Despite being [[dynamically typed]], Python is [[strongly typed]], forbidding operations that are poorly defined (e.g., adding a number and a string) rather than quietly attempting to interpret them.
 
Python allows programmers to define their own types using [[class (computer science)|classes]], most often for [[object-oriented programming]]. New [[object (computer science)|instances]] of classes are constructed by calling the class, for example, {{code|lang=python|code=SpamClass()}} or {{code|lang=python|code=EggsClass()}}); the classes are instances of the [[metaclass]] <code>type</code> (which is an instance of itself), thereby allowing metaprogramming and [[Reflective programming|reflection]].
Python was designed to be highly readable. It has a simple visual layout, uses English keywords frequently where other languages use punctuation, and has notably fewer syntactic constructions than many structured languages such as C, Perl, or Pascal.
 
Before version 3.0, Python had two kinds of classes, both using the same syntax: ''old-style'' and ''new-style''.<ref name="classy"/> Current Python versions support the semantics of only the new style.
For instance, Python has only two structured loop forms:
#<code>for</code>, which loops over elements of a list or iterator (like Perl <code>foreach</code>)
#<code>while</code>, which loops as long as a boolean expression is true.
 
Python supports [[optional typing|optional type annotations]].<ref name="type_hint-PEP"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=PEP 484 – Type Hints {{!}} peps.python.org |url=https://peps.python.org/pep-0484/ |access-date=2023-11-29 |website=peps.python.org |archive-date=27 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231127205023/https://peps.python.org/pep-0484/ |url-status=live}}</ref> These annotations are not enforced by the language, but may be used by external tools such as '''mypy''' to catch errors.<ref>{{cite web |title=typing — Support for type hints |url=https://docs.python.org/3/library/typing.html |website=Python documentation |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=22 December 2023 |archive-date=21 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221184042/https://docs.python.org/3/library/typing.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://mypy-lang.org/ |title=mypy – Optional Static Typing for Python |access-date=28 January 2017 |archive-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606192012/http://mypy-lang.org/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Mypy also supports a Python compiler called mypyc, which leverages type annotations for optimization.<ref>{{cite web |title=Introduction |url=https://mypyc.readthedocs.io/en/latest/introduction.html |website=mypyc.readthedocs.io |access-date=22 December 2023 |archive-date=22 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222000457/https://mypyc.readthedocs.io/en/latest/introduction.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
It thus lacks C-style complex <code>for</code>, a <code>do</code>...<code>while</code>, though of course equivalents can be expressed. Likewise, it has only <code>if</code>...<code>elif</code>...<code>else</code> for branching&mdash;no <code>switch</code> or labeled <code>goto</code> (goto was [http://www.entrian.com/goto/ implemented] as a joke for April 1st 2004, in an add-on module).
 
{|class="wikitable"
=== Syntactical significance of indentation ===
|+ Summary of Python 3's built-in types
|-
! Type
! [[immutable object|Mutability]]
! Description
! Syntax examples
|-
| <code>bool</code>
| immutable
| [[Boolean value]]
| {{code|lang=python|True}}<br />{{code|lang=python|False}}
|-
| <code>bytearray</code>
| mutable
| Sequence of [[byte]]s
| {{code|lang=python|bytearray(b'Some ASCII')}}<br />{{code|lang=python|bytearray(b"Some ASCII")}}<br />{{code|lang=python|bytearray([119, 105, 107, 105])}}
|-
| <code>bytes</code>
| immutable
| Sequence of bytes
| {{code|lang=python|b'Some ASCII'}}<br />{{code|lang=python|b"Some ASCII"}}<br />{{code|lang=python|bytes([119, 105, 107, 105])}}
|-
| <code>complex</code>
| immutable
| [[Complex number]] with real and imaginary parts
| {{code|lang=python|3+2.7j}}<br />{{code|lang=python|3 + 2.7j}}
|-
| <code>dict</code>
| mutable
| [[Associative array]] (or dictionary) of key and value pairs; can contain mixed types (keys and values); keys must be a hashable type
| {{code|lang=python|{'key1': 1.0, 3: False} }}<br />{{code|lang=python| {} }}
|-
| <code>types.EllipsisType</code>
| immutable
| An [[Ellipsis (programming operator)|ellipsis]] placeholder to be used as an index in [[NumPy]] arrays
| {{code|lang=python|...}}<br />{{code|lang=python|Ellipsis}}
|-
| <code>float</code>
| immutable
| [[Double-precision]] [[floating-point number]]. The precision is machine-dependent, but in practice it is generally implemented as a 64-bit [[IEEE&nbsp;754]] number with 53&nbsp;bits of precision.<ref>{{Cite web
|title=15. Floating Point Arithmetic: Issues and Limitations – Python 3.8.3 documentation
|url=https://docs.python.org/3.8/tutorial/floatingpoint.html#representation-error
|access-date=6 June 2020
|website=docs.python.org
|quote=Almost all machines today (November 2000) use IEEE-754 floating point arithmetic, and almost all platforms map Python floats to IEEE-754 "double precision".
|archive-date=6 June 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606113842/https://docs.python.org/3.8/tutorial/floatingpoint.html#representation-error
|url-status=live
}}</ref>
|
{{code|lang=python|1.33333}}
|-
| <code>frozenset</code>
| immutable
| Unordered [[set (computer science)|set]], contains no duplicates; can contain mixed types, if hashable
| {{nobr|{{code|lang=python|frozenset([4.0, 'string', True])}}}}
|-
| <code>int</code>
| immutable
| [[Integer (computer science)|Integer]] of unlimited magnitude<ref name="pep0237"/>
| {{code|lang=python|42}}
|-
| <code>list</code>
| mutable
| [[list (computer science)|List]], can contain mixed types
| {{code|lang=python|[4.0, 'string', True]}}<br />{{code|lang=python|[]}}
|-
| <code>types.NoneType</code>
| immutable
| An object representing the absence of a value, often called [[null pointer|null]] in other languages
| {{code|lang=python|None}}
|-
| <code>types.NotImplementedType</code>
| immutable
| A placeholder that can be returned from [[Operator overloading|overloaded operators]] to indicate unsupported operand types.
| {{code|lang=python|NotImplemented}}
|-
| <code>range</code>
| immutable
| An ''immutable sequence'' of numbers, commonly used for iterating a specific number of times in <code>for</code> loops<ref>{{cite web |title=Built-in Types |url=https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#typesseq-range |access-date=3 October 2019 |archive-date=14 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614194325/https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#typesseq-range |url-status=live}}</ref>
| {{code|lang=python|range(−1, 10)}}<br />{{code|lang=python|range(10, −5, −2)}}
|-
| <code>set</code>
| mutable
| Unordered [[set (computer science)|set]], contains no duplicates; can contain mixed types, if hashable
| {{code|lang=python| {4.0, 'string', True} }}<br />{{code|lang=python|set()}}
|-
| <code>str</code>
| immutable
| A [[character string]]: sequence of Unicode codepoints
| {{code|lang=python|'Wikipedia'}}<br />{{code|lang=python|"Wikipedia"}}<syntaxhighlight lang="python">"""Spanning
multiple
lines"""</syntaxhighlight>
|-
| <code>tuple</code>
| immutable
| [[Tuple]], can contain mixed types
| {{code|lang=python|(4.0, 'string', True)}}<br />{{code|lang=python|('single element',)}}<br />{{code|lang=python|()}}
|}
 
===Arithmetic operations===
One unusual aspect of Python's syntax is its use of the [[Off-side rule|off-side rule]] to delimit program blocks. Sometimes termed "the [[whitespace]] thing", it is one aspect of Python syntax that many programmers otherwise unfamiliar with Python have heard of, since it is nearly unique among currently widespread languages.
Python includes conventional symbols for arithmetic operators (<code>+</code>, <code>-</code>, <code>*</code>, <code>/</code>), the floor-division operator <code>//</code>, and the [[modulo operation|modulo operator]] <code>%</code>. (With the modulo operator, a remainder can be negative,<!--unlike in C language depending on compiler,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11720656/modulo-operation-with-negative-numbers/42131603|title=c – Modulo operation with negative numbers|quote=Note that, in C89, whether the result round upward or downward is implementation-defined.|website=Stack Overflow|access-date=25 September 2019}}</ref>--> e.g., <code>4 % -3 == -2</code>.) Python also offers the <code>**</code> symbol for [[exponentiation]], e.g. <code>5**3 == 125</code> and <code>9**0.5 == 3.0</code>; it also offers the matrix‑multiplication operator <code>@</code> .<ref>{{cite web |url=https://legacy.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0465/ |title=PEP 465 – A dedicated infix operator for matrix multiplication |work=python.org |access-date=3 July 2018 |archive-date=29 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200529200310/https://legacy.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0465/ |url-status=live}}</ref> These operators work as in traditional mathematics; with the same [[order of operations|precedence rules]], the [[infix notation|infix]] operators <code>+</code> and <code>-</code> can also be [[unary operation|unary]], to represent positive and negative numbers respectively.
 
Division between integers produces floating-point results. The behavior of division has changed significantly over time:<ref name="pep0238"/>
In so-called "free-format" languages, that use the block structure ultimately derived from [[ALGOL]], blocks of code are set off with braces (<code>{ }</code>) or keywords. In all these languages, however, programmers conventionally indent the code within a block, to set it off visually from the surrounding code.
* The current version of Python (i.e., since 3.0) changed <code>the /</code> operator to always represent floating-point division, e.g., {{code|class=nowrap|2=python|1=5/2 == 2.5}}.
* The floor division <code>//</code> operator was introduced. Thus <code>7//3 == 2</code>, <code>-7//3 == -3</code>, <code>7.5//3 == 2.0</code>, and <code>-7.5//3 == -3.0</code>. For outdated Python 2.7 adding the {{code|class=nowrap|2=python2|1=from __future__ import division}} statement causes a module in Python 2.7 to use Python&nbsp;3.0 rules for division instead (see above).
 
In Python terms, the <code>/</code> operator represents ''true division'' (or simply ''division''), while the <code>//</code> operator represents ''floor division.'' Before version 3.0, the <code>/</code> operator represents ''classic division''.<ref name="pep0238"/>
Python, instead, borrows a feature from the lesser-known language [[ABC programming language|ABC]]&mdash;instead of punctuation or keywords, it uses this indentation itself to indicate the run of a block. A brief example will make this clear.
Here are C and Python [[recursive function]]s which do the same thing&mdash;computing the [[factorial]] of an integer:
 
[[Rounding]] towards negative infinity, though a different method than in most languages, adds consistency to Python. For instance, this rounding implies that the equation {{code|class=nowrap|2=python|1=(a + b)//b == a//b + 1}} is always true. The rounding also implies that the equation {{code|class=nowrap|2=python|1=b*(a//b) + a%b == a}} is valid for both positive and negative values of <code>a</code>. As expected, the result of <code>a%b</code> lies in the [[half-open interval]] [0, ''b''), where <code>b</code> is a positive integer; however, maintaining the validity of the equation requires that the result must lie in the interval (''b'', 0] when <code>b</code> is negative.<ref name="AutoNT-62"/>
''Factorial function in C:''
int factorial(int x) {
if (x == 0) {
return 1;
} else {
return x * factorial(x-1);
}
}
 
Python provides a <code>round</code> function for rounding a float to the nearest integer. For [[Rounding#Tie-breaking|tie-breaking]], Python&nbsp;3 uses the ''round to even'' method: <code>round(1.5)</code> and <code>round(2.5)</code> both produce <code>2</code>.<ref name="AutoNT-64"/> Python versions before 3 used the [[Rounding#Rounding away from zero|round-away-from-zero]] method: <code>round(0.5)</code> is <code>1.0</code>, and <code>round(-0.5)</code> is <code>−1.0</code>.<ref name="AutoNT-63"/>
''Factorial function in Python:''
def factorial(x):
if x == 0:
return 1
else:
return x * factorial(x-1)
 
Python allows Boolean expressions that contain multiple equality relations to be consistent with general usage in mathematics. For example, the expression <code>a < b < c</code> tests whether <code>a</code> is less than <code>b</code> and <code>b</code> is less than <code>c</code>.<ref name="AutoNT-65"/> C-derived languages interpret this expression differently: in C, the expression would first evaluate <code>a < b</code>, resulting in 0 or 1, and that result would then be compared with <code>c</code>.<ref name="CPL"/>
Some programmers used to ALGOL-style languages, in which whitespace is semantically empty, at first find this confusing or even offensive.
A few have drawn unflattering comparison to the column-oriented style used on punched-card [[Fortran]] systems. When ALGOL was new, it was a major development to have "free-form" languages in which only symbols mattered and not their position on the line.
 
Python uses [[arbitrary-precision arithmetic]] for all integer operations. The <code>Decimal</code> type/class in the <code>decimal</code> module provides [[decimal floating point|decimal floating-point numbers]] to a pre-defined arbitrary precision with several rounding modes.<ref name="AutoNT-88"/> The <code>Fraction</code> class in the <code>fractions</code> module provides arbitrary precision for [[rational number]]s.<ref>{{cite web|title=What's New in Python 2.6 |url=https://docs.python.org/2.6/whatsnew/2.6.html|website=Python v2.6.9 documentation |date=Oct 29, 2013 |access-date=26 September 2015|archive-date=23 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223213856/https://docs.python.org/2.6/whatsnew/2.6.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
To Python programmers, however, "the whitespace thing" is simply the enforcement of a convention that programmers in ALGOL-style languages already follow anyway. They also point out that the free-form syntax has the disadvantage that, since indentation is ignored, good indentation cannot be enforced. Thus, incorrectly indented code may be misleading, since a human reader and a compiler could interpret it differently.
 
Due to Python's extensive mathematics library and the third-party library [[NumPy]], the language is frequently used for scientific scripting in tasks such as numerical data processing and manipulation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stat.washington.edu/~hoytak/blog/whypython.html|title=10 Reasons Python Rocks for Research (And a Few Reasons it Doesn't) – Hoyt Koepke|website=University of Washington Department of Statistics |access-date=3 February 2019|archive-date=31 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531211840/https://www.stat.washington.edu/~hoytak/blog/whypython.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://engineering.ucsb.edu/~shell/che210d/python.pdf|title=An introduction to Python for scientific computing|last=Shell|first=Scott|date=17 June 2014|access-date=3 February 2019|archive-date=4 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204014642/https://engineering.ucsb.edu/~shell/che210d/python.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
The whitespace thing has minor disadvantages. Both space characters and tab characters are currently accepted as forms of indentation. Since they are not visually distinguishable (in many tools), mixing spaces and tabs can create bugs that are particularly difficult to find (a perennial suggestion among Python users has been removing tabs as block markers&mdash;except, of course, among those Python users who propound removing spaces instead).
 
===Function syntax===
Because whitespace is syntactically significant, it is not always possible for a program to automatically correct the indentation on Python code as can be done with C or Lisp code. Moreover, formatting routines which remove whitespace&mdash;for instance, many [[Internet forum]]s&mdash;can completely destroy the syntax of a Python program, whereas a program in a bracketed language would merely become more difficult to read.
[[Function (computer programming)|Functions]] are created in Python by using the <code>def</code> keyword. A function is defined similarly to how it is called, by first providing the function name and then the required parameters. Here is an example of a function that prints its inputs:
<syntaxhighlight lang="python3">
def printer(input1, input2="already there"):
print(input1)
print(input2)
printer("hello")
# Example output:
# hello
# already there
</syntaxhighlight>To assign a default value to a function parameter in case no actual value is provided at run time, variable-definition syntax can be used inside the function header.
 
==Code examples==
=== Comments and docstrings ===
[["Hello, World!" program]]:
<syntaxhighlight lang="python">
print('Hello, world!')
</syntaxhighlight>
 
Program to calculate the [[factorial]] of a positive integer:
Python has two ways to annotate Python code. One is by using comments to indicate what some part of the code does.
<syntaxhighlight lang="python" line="1">
n = int(input('Type a number, and its factorial will be printed: '))
 
if n def< getline()0:
raise ValueError('You must enter a non-negative integer')
return sys.stdin.readline() # Get one line and return it
 
factorial = 1
Comments begin with the hash character ("#") and are terminated by the end of line. Python does not support comments that span more than one line. The other way is to use [[docstring]]s (documentation string), that is a string that is located alone without assignment as the first line within a module, class, method or function. Such strings can be delimited with <code>"</code> or <code><nowiki>'</nowiki></code> for single line strings, or may span multiple lines if delimited with either <code>"""</code> or <code><nowiki>'''</nowiki></code> which is Python's notation for specifying multi-line strings. However, the style guide for the language specifies that triple double quotes (<code>"""</code>) are preferred for both single and multi-line docstrings.
for i in range(2, n + 1):
factorial *= i
 
print(factorial)
Single line docstring:
def getline():
"""Get one line from stdin and return it."""
return sys.stdin.readline()
 
</syntaxhighlight><!--
Multi-line docstring:
def getline():
"""Get one line
from stdin
and return it."""
return sys.stdin.readline()
 
Please don't add more examples.
Docstrings can be as large as the programmer wants and contain [[line break]]s (if multi-line strings are used). In contrast with comments, docstrings are themselves Python objects and are part of the interpreted code that Python runs. That means that a running program can retrieve its own docstrings and do manipulations with that info. But the normal usage is to give other programmers information about how to invoke the object being documented in the docstring.
 
-->
There are tools available that can extract the docstrings to generate an [[API]] documentation from the code. Docstring documentation can also be accessed from the interpreter with the <code>help()</code> function, or from the shell with the <code>pydoc</code> command.
 
==Libraries==
=== Functional programming ===
Python's large standard library<ref name="AutoNT-86"/> is commonly cited as one of its greatest strengths. For Internet-facing applications, many standard formats and protocols such as [[MIME]] and [[HTTP]] are supported. The language includes modules for creating [[graphical user interface]]s, connecting to [[relational database]]s, [[pseudorandom number generator|generating pseudorandom numbers]], arithmetic with arbitrary-precision decimals,<ref name="AutoNT-88"/> manipulating [[regular expression]]s, and [[unit testing]].
 
Some parts of the standard library are covered by specifications—for example, the [[Web Server Gateway Interface]] (WSGI) implementation <code>wsgiref</code> follows PEP 333<ref name="AutoNT-89"/>—but most parts are specified by their code, internal documentation, and [[test suite]]s. However, because most of the standard library is cross-platform Python code, only a few modules must be altered or rewritten for variant implementations.
As mentioned above, another strength of Python is the availability of a [[functional programming]] style. As may be expected, this makes working with lists and other collections much more straightforward. One such construction is the [[list comprehension]], as seen here in calculating the first five powers of two:
 
{{As of|2025|03|13|post=,}} the [[Python Package Index]] (PyPI), the official repository for third-party Python software, contains over 614,339<ref name="PyPI">{{cite web |date=2025-03-13 |title=PyPI |url=https://pypi.org/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250222013445/https://pypi.org/ |archive-date=2025-02-22 |website=PyPI}}</ref> packages. These have a wide range of functionality, including the following:
numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
powers_of_two = [2**n for n in numbers]
 
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
The [[Quicksort]] algorithm can be expressed elegantly using list comprehensions:
* [[Automation]]
* [[Data analytics]]
* [[Database]]s
* [[Documentation]]
* [[Graphical user interface]]s
* [[Image processing]]
* [[Machine learning]]
* [[Mobile app]]s
* [[Multimedia]]
* [[Computer networking]]
* [[Scientific computing]]
* [[System administration]]
* [[Test framework]]s
* [[Text processing]]
* [[Web framework]]s
* [[Web scraping]]
}}
 
==Development environments==
def qsort(L):
{{See also|Comparison of integrated development environments#Python}}
if L == []: return []
return qsort([x for x in L[1:] if x< L[0] ]) + L[0:1] + \
qsort([x for x in L[1:] if x>=L[0] ])
 
Most Python implementations (including CPython) include a [[read–eval–print loop]] (REPL); this permits the environment to function as a [[command line interpreter]], with which users enter statements sequentially and receive results immediately.
Although naive execution of this form of Quicksort is less space-efficient than forms which alter the sequence in-place, it is often cited as an example of the expressive power of list comprehensions.
 
Python is also bundled with an [[integrated development environment|integrated development environment (IDE)]] called [[IDLE]], which is oriented toward beginners.
Because Python permits functions as arguments, it is also possible to partially simulate more subtle functional constructs, such as the [[continuation]].
 
Other shells, including [[IDLE]] and [[IPython]], add additional capabilities such as improved auto-completion, session-state retention, and [[syntax highlighting]].
==== Lambda ====
 
Standard desktop IDEs include PyCharm, IntelliJ Idea, Visual Studio Code; there are also [[web browser]]-based IDEs, such as the following environments:
Python's <code>lambda</code> keyword may be misleading for some functional-programming fans. Python <code>lambda</code> blocks may only contain expressions, not statements.
Thus, they are not the most general way to return a function for use in higher-order functions.
Instead, the usual practice is to define and return a function using a locally scoped name, as in the following example of a simple [[currying|curried]] function:
 
* [[Project Jupyter|Jupyter Notebooks]], an open-source interactive computing platform;
def add_and_print_maker(x):
* [[PythonAnywhere]], a browser-based IDE and hosting environment; and
def temp(y):
* Canopy IDE, a commercial IDE that emphasizes [[scientific computing]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Enthought|first1=Canopy|title=Canopy|url=https://www.enthought.com/products/canopy/|website=www.enthought.com|access-date=20 August 2016|archive-date=15 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715151703/https://www.enthought.com/products/canopy/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Project Jupyter |url=https://jupyter.org |website=Jupyter.org |access-date=2 April 2025 |archive-date=12 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012055917/https://jupyter.org/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
print "%d + %d = %d" % (x, y, x+y)
return temp
 
==Implementations==
The function can also be implemented with nested <code>lambda</code>s. To do this requires working around the Python <code>lambda</code>'s limitation, by defining a function to encapsulate the <code>print</code> statement:
{{See also|List of Python software#Python implementations}}
 
===Reference implementation===
def print_func(obj):
[[CPython]] is the [[reference implementation]] of Python. This implementation is written in C, meeting the [[C11 (C standard revision)|C11]] standard<ref>{{Cite web |title=PEP 7 – Style Guide for C Code {{!}} peps.python.org |url=https://peps.python.org/pep-0007/ |access-date=2022-04-28 |website=peps.python.org |archive-date=24 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424202827/https://peps.python.org/pep-0007/ |url-status=live}}</ref> (since version 3.11, older versions use the [[C89 (C version)|C89]] standard with several select [[C99]] features), but third-party extensions are not limited to older C versions—e.g., they can be implemented using C11 or C++.<ref>{{Cite web|title=4. Building C and C++ Extensions – Python 3.9.2 documentation|url=https://docs.python.org/3/extending/building.html|access-date=2021-03-01|website=docs.python.org|archive-date=3 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303002519/https://docs.python.org/3/extending/building.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="AutoNT-66"/> CPython [[compiler|compiles]] Python programs into an intermediate [[bytecode]],<ref name="AutoNT-67"/> which is then executed by a [[virtual machine]].<ref name="AutoNT-68"/> CPython is distributed with a large standard library written in a combination of C and native Python.
print obj
 
CPython is available for many platforms, including Windows and most modern [[Unix-like]] systems, including macOS (and [[Apple M1]] Macs, since Python&nbsp;3.9.1, using an experimental installer). <!-- "Windows Vista support dropped in Python 3.7" -->Starting with Python&nbsp;3.9, the Python installer intentionally fails to install on [[Windows 7]] and 8<!-- but not 8.1? -->;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Changelog – Python 3.9.0 documentation |url=https://docs.python.org/release/3.9.0/whatsnew/changelog.html#changelog |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207001142/https://docs.python.org/release/3.9.0/whatsnew/changelog.html#changelog |archive-date=7 February 2021 |access-date=2021-02-08 |website=docs.python.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Download Python |url=https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-391 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208045225/https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-391/ |archive-date=8 December 2020 |access-date=2020-12-13 |website=Python.org |language=en}}</ref> [[Windows XP]] was supported until Python&nbsp;3.5<!--"Windows XP support dropped in Python 3.5"-->, with unofficial support for [[OpenVMS|VMS]].<!--"Put online a new version of Python 3.10.0a (IA64only)"--><ref>{{Cite web|title=history [vmspython]|url=https://www.vmspython.org/doku.php?id=history|access-date=2020-12-04|website=www.vmspython.org|archive-date=2 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202194743/https://www.vmspython.org/doku.php?id=history|url-status=live}}</ref> Platform portability was one of Python's earliest priorities.<ref name="AutoNT-69" /> During development of Python&nbsp;1 and 2, even [[OS/2]] and [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]] were supported;<!-- Also python-3.2.2 at http://unixpackages.com/packages/package-list --><ref>{{Cite web|title=Download Python for Other Platforms|url=https://www.python.org/download/other/|access-date=2020-12-04|website=Python.org|language=en|archive-date=27 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127015815/https://www.python.org/download/other/|url-status=live}}</ref> since that time, support has been dropped for many platforms.<!--
add_and_print_maker = \
lambda(x): lambda(y): \
print_func("%d + %d = %d" % (x, y, x+y))
 
Starting with CPython 3.7.0, *nix platforms are expected to provide at least one of C.UTF-8 (full locale), C.utf8 (full locale) or UTF-8 (LC_CTYPE-only locale) as an alternative to the legacy C locale.
The resulting <code>add_and_print_maker</code> functions perform identically: given a number ''x'' they return a function which, when given a number ''y'', will print a sentence of arithmetic. Although the first style may be more common, the second can be clearer to programmers with a functional-programming background.
-->
 
All current Python versions (since 3.7) support only operating systems that feature multithreading<!-- (then in 3.7 removing support for [[IRIX]]; and before many other operating systems such as [[OS/2]] and [[VMS]]) -->, by now supporting not nearly as many operating systems (dropping many outdated) than in the past.
Python's short-circuit semantics of the binary boolean operators <code>and</code> and <code>or</code> creates another useful functional feature. Using those two operators, any type of control flow can be implemented within lambda expressions [http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-prog.html].
They are usually used for simpler purposes, however.
See the heading [[#Logical operators|logical operators]] below.
 
====Other Closures =implementations===
All alternative implementations have at least slightly different semantics. For example, an alternative may include unordered dictionaries<!-- like with Codon; also PyPy? Cython? -->, in contrast to other current Python versions. As another example in the larger Python ecosystem, PyPy does not support the full C Python API. Alternative implementations include the following:
 
* [[PyPy]] is a fast, compliant interpreter of Python&nbsp;2.7 and <!-- 3.8 (both are outdated CPython versions) --> 3.10.<ref name="AutoNT-70"/><ref>{{Cite web|last=Team|first=The PyPy|date=2019-12-28|title=Download and Install|url=https://www.pypy.org/download.html|access-date=2022-01-08|website=PyPy|language=en|archive-date=8 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108212951/https://www.pypy.org/download.html|url-status=live}}</ref> PyPy's [[just-in-time compiler]] often improves speed significantly relative to CPython, but PyPy does not support some libraries written in C.<ref name="AutoNT-71"/> PyPy offers support for the [[RISC-V]] instruction-set architecture.
Python has had support for [[Closure (computer science)|lexical closures]] since version 2.2. See the examples in the above section on lambda for sample closure use.
* Codon is an implementation with an [[ahead-of-time compilation|ahead-of-time (AOT) compiler]], which compiles a statically-typed Python-like language whose "syntax and semantics are nearly identical to Python's, there are some notable differences"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Codon: Differences with Python |url=https://docs.exaloop.io/codon/general/differences |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230525002540/https://docs.exaloop.io/codon/general/differences |archive-date=2023-05-25 |access-date=2023-08-28}}</ref> For example, Codon uses 64-bit machine integers for speed, not arbitrarily as with Python; Codon developers claim that speedups over CPython are usually on the order of ten to a hundred times. Codon compiles to machine code (via [[LLVM]]) and supports native multithreading.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lawson |first=Loraine |date=2023-03-14 |title=MIT-Created Compiler Speeds up Python Code |url=https://thenewstack.io/mit-created-compiler-speeds-up-python-code/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406054200/https://thenewstack.io/mit-created-compiler-speeds-up-python-code/ |archive-date=2023-04-06 |access-date=2023-08-28 |website=The New Stack |language=en-US}}</ref> <!-- It's compile has a restrictive BSL licence, but it doesn't affect generated code: --> Codon can also compile to Python extension modules that can be imported and used from Python.
* [[MicroPython]] and [[CircuitPython]] are Python&nbsp;3 variants that are optimized for [[microcontroller]]s, including the [[Lego Mindstorms EV3]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://education.lego.com/en-us/support/mindstorms-ev3/python-for-ev3|title=Python-for-EV3|website=LEGO Education|language=en|access-date=17 April 2019|archive-date=7 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607234814/https://education.lego.com/en-us/support/mindstorms-ev3/python-for-ev3|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Pyston is a variant of the Python runtime that uses just-in-time compilation to speed up execution of Python programs.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.infoworld.com/article/3587591/pyston-returns-from-the-dead-to-speed-python.html|title=Pyston returns from the dead to speed Python|last=Yegulalp|first=Serdar|date=29 October 2020|website=[[InfoWorld]]|access-date=26 January 2021|archive-date=27 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127113233/https://www.infoworld.com/article/3587591/pyston-returns-from-the-dead-to-speed-python.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Cinder is a performance-oriented fork of CPython 3.8 that features a number of optimizations, including bytecode inline caching, eager evaluation of coroutines, a method-at-a-time [[Just-in-time compilation|JIT]], and an experimental bytecode compiler.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/facebookincubator/cinder|title=cinder: Instagram's performance-oriented fork of CPython.|website=[[GitHub]]|access-date=4 May 2021|language=en|archive-date=4 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504112500/https://github.com/facebookincubator/cinder|url-status=live}}</ref>
* The Snek<!-- (previously named Newt) --><ref>{{Cite web |last=Aroca |first=Rafael |date=2021-08-07 |title=Snek Lang: feels like Python on Arduinos |url=https://rafaelaroca.wordpress.com/2021/08/07/snek-lang-feels-like-python-on-arduinos/ |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=Yet Another Technology Blog |language=en |archive-date=5 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105001031/https://rafaelaroca.wordpress.com/2021/08/07/snek-lang-feels-like-python-on-arduinos/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Aufranc (CNXSoft) |first=Jean-Luc |date=2020-01-16 |title=Snekboard Controls LEGO Power Functions with CircuitPython or Snek Programming Languages (Crowdfunding) – CNX Software |url=https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/01/16/snekboard-controls-lego-power-functions-with-circuitpython-or-snek-programming-languages/ |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=CNX Software – Embedded Systems News |language=en-US |archive-date=5 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105001031/https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/01/16/snekboard-controls-lego-power-functions-with-circuitpython-or-snek-programming-languages/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kennedy (@mkennedy) |first=Michael |title=Ready to find out if you're git famous? |url=https://pythonbytes.fm/episodes/show/187/ready-to-find-out-if-youre-git-famous |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=pythonbytes.fm |language=en-US |archive-date=5 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105001031/https://pythonbytes.fm/episodes/show/187/ready-to-find-out-if-youre-git-famous |url-status=live}}</ref><!-- https://keithp.com/blogs/newt-lola/ https://bipes.net.br/snek-web-uploader/ --> embedded computing language "is Python-inspired, but it is not Python. It is possible to write Snek programs that run under a full Python system, but most Python programs will not run under Snek."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Packard |first=Keith |date=2022-12-20 |title=The Snek Programming Language: A Python-inspired Embedded Computing Language |url=https://sneklang.org/doc/snek.pdf |access-date=4 January 2024 |archive-date=4 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104162458/https://sneklang.org/doc/snek.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Snek is compatible with 8-bit [[AVR microcontrollers]] such as [[ATmega|ATmega 328P]]-based Arduino, as well as larger microcontrollers that are compatible with [[MicroPython]]. Snek is an imperative language that (unlike Python) omits [[object-oriented programming]]. Snek supports only one numeric data type, which features 32-bit [[single-precision|single precision]] (resembling [[JavaScript]] numbers, though smaller).<!-- "Snek is a tiny embeddable language targeting processors with only a few kB of flash and ram. Think of something that would have been running BASIC years ago and you'll have the idea. These processors are too small to run MicroPython." "Snekboard is a custom embedded computer designed to run Snek or CircuitPython." -->
 
===Unsupported implementations===
Python's syntax, though, sometimes leads programmers of other languages to think that closures are not supported. They might try the following, for example:
[[Stackless Python]] is a significant fork of CPython that implements [[microthread]]s. This implementation uses the [[call stack]] differently, thus allowing massively concurrent programs. PyPy also offers a stackless version.<ref name="AutoNT-73"/>
 
Just-in-time Python compilers have been developed, but are now unsupported:
def foo(initial_value=0):
* Google began a project named [[Unladen Swallow]] in 2009: this project aimed to speed up the Python interpreter five-fold by using [[LLVM]], and improve [[multithreading (computer architecture)|multithreading]] capability for scaling to thousands of cores,<ref name="AutoNT-74"/> while typical implementations are limited by the [[global interpreter lock]].
var = initial_value
* [[Psyco]] is a discontinued [[just-in-time compilation|just-in-time]] [[run-time algorithm specialization|specializing]] compiler, which integrates with CPython and transforms bytecode to machine code at runtime. The emitted code is specialized for certain [[data type]]s and is faster than standard Python code. Psyco does not support Python&nbsp;2.7 or later.
def var_setter(newval):
* [[PyS60]] was a Python&nbsp;2 interpreter for [[Series 60]] mobile phones, which was released by [[Nokia]] in 2005. The interpreter implemented many modules from Python's standard library, as well as additional modules for integration with the [[Symbian]] operating system. The Nokia [[N900]] also supports Python through the [[GTK]] widget library, allowing programs to be written and run on the target device.<ref>{{cite web|title=Python on the Nokia N900|url=http://www.stochasticgeometry.ie/2010/04/29/python-on-the-nokia-n900/|website=Stochastic Geometry|date=29 April 2010|access-date=9 July 2015|archive-date=20 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620000053/http://www.stochasticgeometry.ie/2010/04/29/python-on-the-nokia-n900/|url-status=live}}</ref>
var = newval
def var_getter():
return var
return var_setter, var_getter
setter, getter = foo()
setter(19)
getter() # <- would return 0
 
===Cross-compilers to other languages===
..and they then assume closures do not work in Python. The problem, however, is a misunderstanding of Python's naming and binding rules. When a name-binding operation occurs anywhere in a function body (e.g., an assignment), that name is made local to the function and can not be a free variable. However, the same functionality can be had by using part of a mutable object as the store, for example:
There are several compilers/[[transpiler]]s to high-level object languages; the source language is unrestricted Python, a subset of Python, or a language similar to Python:
* Brython,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Brython|url=https://brython.info/|access-date=2021-01-21|website=brython.info|archive-date=3 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180803065954/http://brython.info/|url-status=live}}</ref> Transcrypt,<ref>{{cite web|title=Transcrypt – Python in the browser|url=https://www.transcrypt.org|access-date=22 December 2020|website=transcrypt.org|language=en|archive-date=19 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819133303/http://www.transcrypt.org/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.infoq.com/articles/transcrypt-python-javascript-compiler/|title=Transcrypt: Anatomy of a Python to JavaScript Compiler|website=InfoQ|access-date=20 January 2021|archive-date=5 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205193339/https://www.infoq.com/articles/transcrypt-python-javascript-compiler/|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Pyjs]] compile Python to [[JavaScript]]. (The latest release of Pyjs was in 2012.)
* [[Cython]] compiles a superset of Python<!-- actually 2.7 by default, but Python 3 by override --> to C. The resulting code can be used with Python via direct C-level API calls into the Python interpreter.
* PyJL compiles/transpiles a subset of Python to "human-readable, maintainable, and high-performance Julia source code".<ref name=PyJL>{{Cite web|title=Transpiling Python to Julia using PyJL|url=https://web.ist.utl.pt/antonio.menezes.leitao/ADA/documents/publications_docs/2022_TranspilingPythonToJuliaUsingPyJL.pdf|quote=After manually modifying one line of code by specifying the necessary type information, we obtained a speedup of 52.6×, making the translated Julia code 19.5× faster than the original Python code.|access-date=20 September 2023|archive-date=19 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119071525/https://web.ist.utl.pt/antonio.menezes.leitao/ADA/documents/publications_docs/2022_TranspilingPythonToJuliaUsingPyJL.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Despite the developers' performance claims, this is not possible for ''arbitrary'' Python code; that is, compiling to a faster language or machine code is known to be impossible in the general case. The semantics of Python might potentially be changed, but in many cases speedup is possible with few or no changes in the Python code. The faster Julia source code can then be used from Python or compiled to machine code.
* [[Nuitka]] compiles Python into C<!-- "is the optimizing Python compiler written in Python that creates executables that run without a separate installer"-->.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nuitka Home {{!}} Nuitka Home|url=http://nuitka.net/|access-date=18 August 2017|website=nuitka.net|language=en|archive-date=30 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200530211233/https://nuitka.net/|url-status=live}}</ref> This compiler works with Python 3.4 to 3.12 (and 2.6 and 2.7) for Python's main supported platforms (and Windows 7 or even Windows XP) and for Android. The compiler developers claim full support for Python 3.10, <!-- "also finishes full compatibility with the match statements of 3.10" "From here on, we need to re-visit compatibility. A few more obscured 3.10 features are missing, the 3.11 compatibility is not yet complete" -->partial support for Python 3.11 and 3.12, <!-- "This release bumps the long-awaited 3.12 support to a complete level. Now, Nuitka behaves identically to CPython 3.12 for the most part. .. After being late with 3.12 support, we will now be early with 3.13 support if all goes well." --> and experimental support for Python 3.13. Nuitka supports macOS including Apple Silicon-based versions. <!-- "While arm64 (M1) only builds and x86_64 (Intel) only builds work, the value universal which of course implies twice the size, and as such has other disadvantages, is not yet supported. --> The compiler is free of cost, though it has commercial add-ons (e.g., for hiding source code).<!-- "Container Builds (public + commercial)" -->
* [[Numba]] is a JIT compiler that is used from Python; the compiler translates a subset of Python and NumPy code into fast machine code. This tool is enabled by adding a decorator to the relevant Python code.
* Pythran compiles a subset of Python&nbsp;3 to C++ ([[C++11]]).<ref name="Guelton Brunet Amini Merlini 2015 p=014001">{{cite journal |last1=Guelton |first1=Serge |last2=Brunet |first2=Pierrick |last3=Amini |first3=Mehdi |last4=Merlini |first4=Adrien |last5=Corbillon |first5=Xavier |last6=Raynaud |first6=Alan |title=Pythran: enabling static optimization of scientific Python programs |journal=Computational Science & Discovery |publisher=IOP Publishing |volume=8 |issue=1 |date=16 March 2015 |issn=1749-4699 |doi=10.1088/1749-4680/8/1/014001|doi-access=free |page=014001 |bibcode=2015CS&D....8a4001G}}</ref>
* [[RPython]] can be compiled to C, and it is used to build the PyPy interpreter for Python.
* The Python → 11l → C++ transpiler<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://11l-lang.org/transpiler |title=The Python → 11l → C++ transpiler |access-date=17 July 2022 |archive-date=24 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220924233728/https://11l-lang.org/transpiler/ |url-status=live}}</ref> compiles a subset of Python&nbsp;3 to C++ ([[C++17]]).
 
There are also specialized compilers:
def foo(initial_value=0):
* [[MyHDL]] is a Python-based [[hardware description language]] (HDL) that converts MyHDL code to [[Verilog]] or [[VHDL]] code.
varholder = [initial_value] # put the value into a list
def var_setter(newval):
varholder[0] = newval
def var_getter():
return varholder[0]
return var_setter, var_getter
setter, getter = foo()
setter(21)
getter() # <- would return 21
 
Some older projects existed, as well as compilers not designed for use with Python 3.x and related syntax:
Since the name of the variable from the enclosing scope (<code>varholder</code>) is not rebound in <code>var_setter</code>, <code>varholder</code> becomes a free variable in <code>var_setter</code> and <code>var_setter</code> becomes a closure.
* Google's Grumpy [[transpile]]s Python&nbsp;2 to [[Go (programming language)|Go]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/google/grumpy|title=google/grumpy|date=10 April 2020|via=GitHub|access-date=25 March 2020|archive-date=15 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200415054919/https://github.com/google/grumpy|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://opensource.google/projects/|title=Projects|website=opensource.google|access-date=25 March 2020|archive-date=24 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200424191248/https://opensource.google/projects/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theregister.com/2017/01/05/googles_grumpy_makes_python_go/|title=Google's Grumpy code makes Python Go|first=Thomas Claburn in San|last=Francisco|website=www.theregister.com|access-date=20 January 2021|archive-date=7 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307165521/https://www.theregister.com/2017/01/05/googles_grumpy_makes_python_go/|url-status=live}}</ref> The latest release was in 2017.
* [[IronPython]]<!-- (abandoned by Microsoft) --> allows running Python&nbsp;2.7 programs with the .NET [[Common Language Runtime]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=IronPython.net /|url=https://ironpython.net/|website=ironpython.net|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417064418/https://ironpython.net/|url-status=live}}</ref> An [[Software release life cycle#Alpha|alpha]] version (released in 2021), is available for "Python&nbsp;3.4, although features and behaviors from later versions may be included."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://github.com/IronLanguages/ironpython3 |title=GitHub – IronLanguages/ironpython3: Implementation of Python 3.x for .NET Framework that is built on top of the Dynamic Language Runtime<!-- Bot generated title --> |website=[[GitHub]] |archive-date=28 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928101250/https://github.com/IronLanguages/ironpython3 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Jython]] compiles Python&nbsp;2.7 to Java bytecode, allowing the use of Java libraries from a Python program.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jython FAQ|url=https://www.jython.org/jython-old-sites/archive/22/userfaq.html|access-date=2021-04-22|website=www.jython.org|archive-date=22 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422055726/https://www.jython.org/jython-old-sites/archive/22/userfaq.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Pyrex (programming language)|Pyrex]] (last released in 2010) and [[Shed Skin]] (last released in 2013) compile to C and C++ respectively.
 
==== Generators =Performance===
A performance comparison among various Python implementations, using a non-numerical (combinatorial) workload, was presented at EuroSciPy '13.<ref>{{cite conference |title=Performance of Python runtimes on a non-numeric scientific code |last=Murri |first=Riccardo |conference=European Conference on Python in Science (EuroSciPy) |year=2013 |arxiv=1404.6388|bibcode=2014arXiv1404.6388M}}</ref> In addition, Python's performance relative to other programming languages is benchmarked by [[The Computer Language Benchmarks Game]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Computer Language Benchmarks Game|url=https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksgame/fastest/python.html|access-date=30 April 2020|archive-date=14 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614210246/https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksgame/fastest/python.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
There are several approaches to optimizing Python performance, given the inherent slowness of an [[interpreted language]]. These approaches include the following strategies or tools:
Introduced in Python 2.2 as optional feature and finalized in version 2.3, [[Generator (computer science)|generators]] are Python's mechanism for [[lazy evaluation]] of a function that would otherwise return a space-prohibitive or computationally intensive list.
 
* [[Just-in-time compilation]]: Dynamically compiling Python code just before it is executed. This technique is used in libraries such as [[Numba]] and [[PyPy]].
This is an example to lazily generate the prime numbers:
* [[Compiler|Static compilation]]: Python code is compiled into machine code sometime before execution. An example of this approach is Cython, which compiles Python into C.
* Concurrency and parallelism: Multiple tasks can be run simultaneously. Python contains modules such as `multiprocessing` to support this form of parallelism. Moreover, this approach helps to overcome limitations of the [[Global interpreter lock|Global Interpreter Lock]] (GIL) in CPU tasks.
* Efficient data structures: Performance can also be improved by using data types such as <code>Set</code> for membership tests, or <code>deque</code> from <code>collections</code> for [[Queueing theory|queue]] operations.
 
==Language Development==
import sys
Python's development is conducted largely through the ''Python Enhancement Proposal'' (PEP) process; this process is the primary mechanism for proposing major new features, collecting community input on issues, and documenting Python design decisions.<ref name="PepCite000"/> Python coding style is covered in PEP&nbsp;8.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/|title=PEP 8 – Style Guide for Python Code|website=Python.org|access-date=26 March 2019|archive-date=17 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417223549/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/|url-status=live}}</ref> Outstanding PEPs are reviewed and commented on by the Python community and the steering council.<ref name="PepCite000"/>
def generate_primes(max=sys.maxint):
primes = []
n = 2
while n < max:
composite = False
for p in primes:
if not n % p:
composite = True
break
if not composite:
primes.append(n)
yield n
n += 1
 
Enhancement of the language corresponds with development of the CPython reference implementation. The mailing list python-dev is the primary forum for the language's development. Specific issues were originally discussed in the [[Roundup (issue tracker)|Roundup]] [[bug tracker]] hosted by the foundation.<ref name="AutoNT-21"/> In 2022, all issues and discussions were migrated to [[GitHub]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lwn.net/Articles/885854/ |title=Moving Python's bugs to GitHub &#91;LWN.net&#93; |access-date=2 October 2022 |archive-date=2 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002183818/https://lwn.net/Articles/885854/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Development originally took place on a [[Self-hosting (web services)|self-hosted]] source-code repository running [[Mercurial]], until Python moved to [[GitHub]] in January 2017.<ref name=py_dev_guide>{{Cite web|url=https://devguide.python.org/|title=Python Developer's Guide – Python Developer's Guide|website=devguide.python.org|access-date=17 December 2019|archive-date=9 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109032501/https://devguide.python.org/|url-status=live}}</ref>
To use this function simply call, e.g.:
for i in generate_primes(100):
print i,
 
CPython's public releases have three types, distinguished by which part of the version number is incremented:
The definition of a generator appears identical to that of a function, except the keyword <code>yield</code> is used in place of <code>return</code>. However, a generator is an object with persistent state, which can repeatedly enter and leave the same dynamic extent. A generator call can then be used in place of a list, or other structure whose elements will be iterated over. Whenever the <code>for</code>-loop in the example requires the next item, the generator is called, and yields the next item.
* ''Backward-incompatible versions'', where code is expected to break and must be manually [[ported]]. The first part of the version number is incremented. These releases happen infrequently—version 3.0 was released 8 years after 2.0. According to Guido van Rossum, a version 4.0 will probably never exist.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hughes |first=Owen |date=2021-05-24 |title=Programming languages: Why Python 4.0 might never arrive, according to its creator |url=https://www.techrepublic.com/article/programming-languages-why-python-4-0-will-probably-never-arrive-according-to-its-creator/ |access-date=2022-05-16 |website=TechRepublic |language=en-US |archive-date=14 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220714201302/https://www.techrepublic.com/article/programming-languages-why-python-4-0-will-probably-never-arrive-according-to-its-creator/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
* ''Major or "feature" releases'' are largely compatible with the previous version but introduce new features. The second part of the version number is incremented. Starting with Python&nbsp;3.9, these releases are expected to occur annually.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0602/|title=PEP 602 – Annual Release Cycle for Python|website=Python.org|language=en|access-date=6 November 2019|archive-date=14 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614202755/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0602/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lwn.net/Articles/802777/|title=Changing the Python release cadence [LWN.net]|website=lwn.net|access-date=6 November 2019|archive-date=6 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191106170153/https://lwn.net/Articles/802777/|url-status=live}}</ref> Each major version is supported by bug fixes for several years after its release.<ref name="release-schedule"/>
* ''Bug fix releases'',<ref name="AutoNT-22"/> which introduce no new features, occur approximately every three months; these releases are made when a sufficient number of bugs have been fixed [[Upstream (software development)|upstream]] since the last release. Security vulnerabilities are also patched in these releases. The third and final part of the version number is incremented.<ref name="AutoNT-22"/>
 
Many [[beta release|alpha, beta, and release-candidates]] are also released as previews and for testing before final releases. Although there is a rough schedule for releases, they are often delayed if the code is not ready yet. Python's development team monitors the state of the code by running a large [[unit test]] suite during development.<ref name="AutoNT-23"/>
==== Generator Expressions ====
Introduced in Python 2.4, Generator Expressions are the lazy evaluation equivalent of List Comprehensions. Either you could write a specific generator for it
def generate_ints(N):
for i in xrange(N):
yield i
for x in generate_ints(100):
print x
or write a slightly more concise
for x in (i for i in xrange(100)):
print x
 
The major [[academic conference]] on Python is [[PyCon]]. There are also special Python mentoring programs, such as [[PyLadies]].
Note that the example given is purely to demonstrate Generator Expressions- since xrange is an iterable itself, for the example above
for x in xrange(100):
print x
is actually simpler.
 
==API documentation generators==
=== Logical operators ===
Tools that can generate documentation for Python [[API]] include [[pydoc]] (available as part of the standard library); [[Sphinx (documentation generator)|Sphinx]]; and [[Pdoc]] and its forks, [[Doxygen]] and [[Graphviz]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Documentation Tools |url=https://wiki.python.org/moin/DocumentationTools |access-date=2021-03-22 |website=Python.org |language=en |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111173635/https://wiki.python.org/moin/DocumentationTools |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
==Naming==
In Python 2.2 and earlier, the expressions <code>""</code>, <code>0</code>, <code>0.0</code>, <code>0e0</code>, <code>0j</code>, <code>None</code>, <code>False</code>, <code>()</code>, <code>[]</code>, <code>{}</code>, etc. are false, and everything else is true. When using binary Boolean operators in Python, the syntax is to have the operator be in between the two statements in question.
Python's name is inspired by the British comedy group [[Monty Python]], whom Python creator Guido van Rossum enjoyed while developing the language. Monty Python references appear frequently in Python code and culture;<ref name="tutorial-chapter1"/> for example, the [[metasyntactic variable]]s often used in Python literature are [[Spam (Monty Python)|''spam'' and ''eggs'']], rather than the traditional [[foobar|''foo'' and ''bar'']].<ref name="tutorial-chapter1"/><ref name="AutoNT-26"/> The official Python documentation also contains various references to Monty Python routines.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lutz |first1=Mark |title=Learning Python: Powerful Object-Oriented Programming |year=2009 |publisher=O'Reilly Media, Inc. |isbn=9781449379322 |page=17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HxWGezDZcgC&pg=PA17 |language=en |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=17 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170717044012/https://books.google.com/books?id=1HxWGezDZcgC&pg=PA17 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Fehily |first1=Chris |title=Python |year=2002 |publisher=Peachpit Press |isbn=9780201748840 |page=xv |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=carqdIdfVlYC&pg=PR15 |language=en |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=17 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170717044040/https://books.google.com/books?id=carqdIdfVlYC&pg=PR15 |url-status=live}}</ref> Python users are sometimes referred to as "Pythonistas".<ref name="introducing_python">{{Cite book |publisher=Sebastopol, CA : O'Reilly Media |isbn=978-1-4493-5936-2 |last=Lubanovic |first=Bill |title=Introducing Python |access-date=2023-07-31 |date=2014 |url=http://archive.org/details/introducingpytho0000luba |page=305}}</ref>
So to see if the statements <code>x==5</code> and <code>3</code> are true, one would write "<code>x==5 and 3</code>". To evaluate this, the interpreter would first check if <code>x==5</code> returned true. If it did not, it would return 0, but since it did, it goes on to the next statement. Next, it checks if 3 is true. Since 3 is true, 3 is returned. If three were not true, 0 would be returned. If the order of all of this were reversed to <code>3 and x==5</code>, 1 would be returned because that is what <code>x==5</code> evaluates to (because 1 is the default truth value). The <code>or</code> function works similarly. To find out if "<code>2/3 or 5</code>" is true, the interpreter first finds the truth value of 2/3. Since 2/3 evaluates to 0, as described above, it would return false. If it had returned true, then its value would be returned. Next, the interpreter looks at the second expression. Since, in this case, it returns true, 5 would be returned. It is common in Python to write statements such as <code>print p or q</code> to take advantage of this feature.
 
The [[affix]] ''Py'' is often used when naming Python applications or libraries. Some examples include the following:
Later in Python 2.2.1 the constants <code>True</code> and <code>False</code> were added and, as a result, all of the binary comparison operators (<code>==</code>, <code>&gt;</code>, etc) return either <code>True</code> or <code>False</code>, while the rest of the aforementioned boolean operations (<code>and</code>, etc) still return the value that the last expression evaluated to.
Thus the expression "<code>2 == 2</code>" will return the value <code>True</code> and "<code>2 == 2 and 5</code>" still returns the integer <code>5</code>.
 
* [[Pygame]], a [[language binding|binding]] of [[Simple DirectMedia Layer]] to Python (commonly used to create games);
(Under the hood, in Python 2.3 and 2.4, <code>True</code> and <code>False</code> are builtin objects of type <code>bool</code>, a subclass of <code>int</code>. To keep backwards-compatibility, <code>True</code> and <code>False</code> only differ from 0 and 1 in type and string representation. Thus, statements treating the result of comparisons as ints still work. Ex. <code>print intAsStr+(" "*(fieldWidth-len(intAsStr)))</code> In 2.2.1&ndash;2.2.3, they are names for the <code>int</code> objects 1 and 0, respectively.)
* [[PyQt]] and [[PyGTK]], which bind [[Qt (software)|Qt]] and GTK to Python respectively;
* [[PyPy]], a Python implementation originally written in Python;
* [[NumPy]], a Python library for numerical processing.
* [[Jupyter]], a [[notebook interface]] and associated project for interactive computing
 
==Popularity==
===Comparison operators===
Since 2003, Python has consistently ranked in the top ten of the most popular programming languages in the [[TIOBE Programming Community Index]]; {{as of|2022|12|lc=y}}, Python was the most popular language.<ref name=tiobecurrent/> Python was selected as Programming Language of the Year (for "the highest rise in ratings in a year") in 2007, 2010, 2018, and 2020—the only language to have done so four times {{as of|2020|lc=true}}<ref>{{Cite web|last=Blake|first=Troy|date=2021-01-18|title=TIOBE Index for January 2021|url=https://seniordba.wordpress.com/2021/01/18/tiobe-index-for-january-2021/|access-date=2021-02-26|website=Technology News and Information by SeniorDBA|language=en|archive-date=21 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321143253/https://seniordba.wordpress.com/2021/01/18/tiobe-index-for-january-2021/|url-status=live}}</ref>). In the TIOBE Index, monthly rankings are based on the volume of searches for programming languages on Google, Amazon, Wikipedia, Bing, and 20 other platforms. According to the accompanying graph, Python has shown a marked upward trend since the early 2000s, eventually passing more established languages such as C, C++, and Java. This trend can be attributed to Python's readable syntax, comprehensive standard library, and application in data science and machine learning fields.<ref>{{Cite web |title=TIOBE Index |url=https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/ |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=TIOBE |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Tiobeindex.png|thumb|TIOBE Index Chart showing Python's popularity compared to other programming languages]]
 
Large organizations that use Python include [[Wikipedia]], [[Google]],<ref name="quotes-about-python"/> [[Yahoo!]],<ref name="AutoNT-29"/> [[CERN]],<ref name="AutoNT-30"/> [[NASA]],<ref name="AutoNT-31"/> [[Facebook]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/301|title=Tornado: Facebook's Real-Time Web Framework for Python – Facebook for Developers|website=Facebook for Developers|language=en-US|access-date=19 June 2018|archive-date=19 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219031313/https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/301|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]], [[Instagram]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://instagram-engineering.com/what-powers-instagram-hundreds-of-instances-dozens-of-technologies-adf2e22da2ad |title=What Powers Instagram: Hundreds of Instances, Dozens of Technologies |date=11 December 2016 |publisher=Instagram Engineering |access-date=27 May 2019 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615183410/https://instagram-engineering.com/what-powers-instagram-hundreds-of-instances-dozens-of-technologies-adf2e22da2ad |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Spotify]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://labs.spotify.com/2013/03/20/how-we-use-python-at-spotify/|title=How we use Python at Spotify|website=Spotify Labs|language=en-US|access-date=25 July 2018|date=20 March 2013|archive-date=10 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610005143/https://labs.spotify.com/2013/03/20/how-we-use-python-at-spotify/|url-status=live}}</ref> and some smaller entities such as [[Industrial Light & Magic]]<ref name="AutoNT-32"/> and [[ITA Software|ITA]].<ref name="AutoNT-33"/> The social news networking site [[Reddit]] was developed mostly in Python.<ref>{{Citation|title=GitHub – reddit-archive/reddit: historical code from reddit.com.|url=https://github.com/reddit-archive/reddit|publisher=The Reddit Archives|access-date=20 March 2019|archive-date=1 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200601104939/https://github.com/reddit-archive/reddit|url-status=live}}</ref> Organizations that partly use Python include [[Discord]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://elixir-lang.org/blog/2020/10/08/real-time-communication-at-scale-with-elixir-at-discord/ | title=Real time communication at scale with Elixir at Discord | date=8 October 2020 }}</ref> and [[Baidu]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.freelancinggig.com/blog/2018/07/05/what-programming-language-is-baidu-built-in/#:~:text=Even%20though%20Baidu%20has%20used,part%20JavaScript%20has%20been%20applied | title=What Programming Language is Baidu Built In? | date=5 July 2018 }}</ref>
The basic comparison operators such as <code>==<code>, <code><</code>, <code>>=</code>, and so forth, are used on all manner of values. Numbers, strings, sequences, and mappings can all be compared. Objects of dissimilar type (such as a string and a number) can be compared; the result is arbitrary, but consistent.
 
==Types of Use==
Chained comparison expressions such as <code>a < b < c</code> have roughly the meaning that they have in mathematics, rather than the unusual meaning found in [[C programming language|C]] and similar languages. The terms are evaluated and compared in order. The operation is [[lazy evaluation#minimal evaluation|short circuit]], meaning that evaluation stops as soon as the expression is proven false: if <code>a < b</code> is false, <code>c</code> is never evaluated.
{{Main|List of Python software}}
[[File:Python Powered.png|thumb|Software that is powered by Python]]
 
Python has many uses, including the following:
For expressions without side effects, <code>a < b < c</code> is equivalent to <code>a < b and b < c</code>. However, there is a substantial difference when the expressions have side effects. <code>a < f(x) < b</code> will evaluate <code>f(x)</code> exactly once, whereas <code>a < f(x) and f(x) < b</code> may evaluate it once or twice.
 
* [[Scripting language|Scripting]] for [[web application]]s
=== Object-oriented programming ===
* Scientific computing
* [[Artificial intelligence]] and [[machine learning]] projects
* [[Graphical user interface]]s and [[desktop environment]]s
* Embedded scripting in software and hardware products
* Operating systems
* [[Information security]]
 
Python can serve as a scripting language for web applications, e.g., via the {{Not a typo|[[mod_wsgi]]}} module for the [[Apache webserver|Apache web server]].<ref name="AutoNT-35" /> With [[Web Server Gateway Interface]], a standard API has evolved to facilitate these applications. [[Web framework]]s such as [[Django (web framework)|Django]], [[Pylons (web framework)|Pylons]], [[Pyramid (web framework)|Pyramid]], [[TurboGears]], [[web2py]], [[Tornado (web server)|Tornado]], [[Flask (web framework)|Flask]], Bottle, and [[Zope]] support developers in the design and maintenance of complex applications. Pyjs and [[IronPython]] can be used to develop the client-side of Ajax-based applications. [[SQLAlchemy]] can be used as a [[Data mapper pattern|data mapper]] to a relational database. [[Twisted (software)|Twisted]] is a framework to program communication between computers; this framework is used by [[Dropbox]], for example.
Python's support for object oriented programming paradigm is vast. It supports [[Polymorphism_(computer_science)|polymorphism]], not only within a [[class hierarchy]] but also by [[duck typing]]. Any object can be used for any type, and it will work so long as it has the proper methods and attributes. And everything in Python is an object, including classes, functions, numbers and modules. Python also has support for [[metaclass]]es, an advanced tool for enhancing classes' functionality. Naturally, [[inheritance]], including [[multiple inheritance]], is supported. It has limited support for private variables using [[name mangling]]. See [http://www.python.org/doc/current/tut/node11.html#SECTION0011600000000000000000 the "Classes" section of the tutorial] for details.
Many Python users don't feel the need for private variables, though.
The slogan "We're all consenting adults here" is used to describe this attitude.
Some consider [[information hiding]] to be [[#Neologisms|unpythonic]], in that it suggests that the class in question contains unaesthetic or ill-planned internals.
 
Libraries such as [[NumPy]], [[SciPy]] and [[Matplotlib]] allow the effective use of Python in scientific computing,<ref name="cise">{{cite journal |last=Oliphant |first=Travis |title=Python for Scientific Computing |journal=Computing in Science and Engineering |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=10–20 |year=2007 |url=https://www.h2desk.com/blog/python-scientific-computing/ |doi=10.1109/MCSE.2007.58 |citeseerx=10.1.1.474.6460 |bibcode=2007CSE.....9c..10O |s2cid=206457124 |access-date=10 April 2015 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615193226/https://www.h2desk.com/blog/python-scientific-computing/ |url-status=live| issn=1521-9615 }}</ref><ref name="millman">{{cite journal |first1=K. Jarrod |last1=Millman |first2=Michael |last2=Aivazis |title=Python for Scientists and Engineers |journal=Computing in Science and Engineering |volume=13 |number=2 |pages=9–12 |year=2011 |url=http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/cs/2011/02/mcs2011020009.html |doi=10.1109/MCSE.2011.36 |bibcode=2011CSE....13b...9M |access-date=7 July 2014 |archive-date=19 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219031439/https://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/cs/2011/02/mcs2011020009.html |url-status=live}}</ref> with specialized libraries such as [[Biopython]] and [[Astropy]] providing ___domain-specific functionality. [[SageMath]] is a [[computer algebra system]] with a [[notebook interface]] that is programmable in Python; the SageMath library covers many aspects of [[mathematics]], including [[algebra]], [[combinatorics]], [[numerical mathematics]], [[number theory]], and [[calculus]].<ref name="ICSE" >{{Citation|title=Science education with SageMath|url=http://visual.icse.us.edu.pl/methodology/why_Sage.html|publisher=Innovative Computing in Science Education|access-date=22 April 2019|archive-date=15 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615180428/http://visual.icse.us.edu.pl/methodology/why_Sage.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[OpenCV]] has Python bindings with a rich set of features for [[computer vision]] and [[image processing]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=OpenCV: OpenCV-Python Tutorials|url=https://docs.opencv.org/3.4.9/d6/d00/tutorial_py_root.html|access-date=2020-09-14|website=docs.opencv.org|archive-date=23 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923063145/https://docs.opencv.org/3.4.9/d6/d00/tutorial_py_root.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
From the tutorial: ''As is true for modules, classes in Python do not put an absolute barrier between definition and user, but rather rely on the politeness of the user not to "break into the definition."''
 
Python is commonly used in artificial-intelligence and machine-learning projects, with support from libraries such as [[TensorFlow]], [[Keras]], [[Pytorch]], [[scikit-learn]] and [[ProbLog]] (a logic language).<ref name="whitepaper2015">{{cite web |last1=Dean |first1=Jeff |last2=Monga |first2=Rajat |first3=Sanjay |last3=Ghemawat |display-authors=2 |author-link1=Jeff Dean (computer scientist) |title=TensorFlow: Large-scale machine learning on heterogeneous systems |url=http://download.tensorflow.org/paper/whitepaper2015.pdf |website=TensorFlow.org |publisher=Google Research |access-date=10 November 2015 |date=9 November 2015 |archive-date=20 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120004649/http://download.tensorflow.org/paper/whitepaper2015.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Piatetsky |first1=Gregory |title=Python eats away at R: Top Software for Analytics, Data Science, Machine Learning in 2018: Trends and Analysis |url=https://www.kdnuggets.com/2018/05/poll-tools-analytics-data-science-machine-learning-results.html/2 |website=KDnuggets |access-date=30 May 2018 |archive-date=15 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115234216/https://www.kdnuggets.com/2018/05/poll-tools-analytics-data-science-machine-learning-results.html/2 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://scikit-learn.org/stable/testimonials/testimonials.html|title=Who is using scikit-learn? – scikit-learn 0.20.1 documentation|website=scikit-learn.org|access-date=30 November 2018|archive-date=6 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506210716/https://scikit-learn.org/stable/testimonials/testimonials.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author-link1=Norman Jouppi |last1=Jouppi |first1=Norm |title=Google supercharges machine learning tasks with TPU custom chip |url=https://cloudplatform.googleblog.com/2016/05/Google-supercharges-machine-learning-tasks-with-custom-chip.html |website=Google Cloud Platform Blog |access-date=19 May 2016 |archive-date=18 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518201516/https://cloudplatform.googleblog.com/2016/05/Google-supercharges-machine-learning-tasks-with-custom-chip.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ProbLogConcepts">{{cite journal |last1=De Raedt |first1=Luc |last2=Kimmig|first2=Angelika |title=Probabilistic (logic) programming concepts |journal=Machine Learning |date=2015 |volume=100 |number=1 |pages=5–47 |doi=10.1007/s10994-015-5494-z |s2cid=3166992 |doi-access=free}}</ref> As a scripting language with a [[modular programming|modular architecture]], simple syntax, and rich text processing tools, Python is often used for [[natural language processing]].<ref name="AutoNT-47"/>
OOP doctrines such as the use of accessor methods to read data members are not enforced in Python. Just as Python offers functional-programming constructs but does not attempt to demand [[referential transparency]], it offers (and extensively uses!) its object system but does not demand OOP behavior. Moreover, it is always possible to redefine the class using ''properties'' so that when a certain variable is set or retrieved in calling code, it really invokes a function call, so that <code>foo.x = y</code> might really invoke <code>foo.set_x(y)</code>. This nullifies the practical advantage of accessor functions, and it remains OOP because the property 'x' becomes a legitimate part of the object's interface: it need not reflect an implementation detail.
 
The combination of Python and [[Prolog]] has proven useful for AI applications, with Prolog providing knowledge representation and reasoning capabilities. The Janus system, in particular, exploits similarities between these two languages, in part because of their dynamic typing and their simple, recursive data structures. This combination is typically applied natural language processing, visual query answering, geospatial reasoning, and handling semantic web data.<ref>Andersen, C. and Swift, T., 2023. The Janus System: a bridge to new prolog applications. In Prolog: The Next 50 Years (pp. 93–104). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=SWI-Prolog Python interface |url=https://www.swi-prolog.org/pldoc/doc_for?object=section(%27packages/janus.html%27) |access-date=2024-03-15 |language=en-US |archive-date=15 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315162046/https://www.swi-prolog.org/pldoc/doc_for?object=section%28%27packages%2Fjanus.html%27%29 |url-status=live}}</ref>
In version 2.2 of Python, "new-style" classes were introduced. With new-style classes, objects and types were unified, allowing the subclassing of types.
The Natlog system, implemented in Python, uses [[Definite clause grammar|Definite Clause Grammars]] (DCGs) to create prompts for two types of generators: text-to-text generators such as GPT3, and text-to-image generators such as DALL-E or Stable Diffusion.<ref>Tarau, P., 2023. Reflections on automation, learnability and expressiveness in logic-based programming languages. In Prolog: The Next 50 Years (pp. 359–371). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.</ref>
Even new types entirely can be defined, complete with custom behavior for infix operators. This allows for many radical things to be done syntactically within Python. A new [[multiple inheritance]] model was adopted with new-style classes, making a much more logical order of inheritance.
The new method <code>__getattribute__</code> was also defined for unconditional handling of attribute access.
 
Python can be used for graphical user interfaces (GUIs), by using libraries such as [[Tkinter]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://docs.python.org/3/library/tkinter.html |title=Tkinter — Python interface to TCL/Tk |access-date=9 June 2023 |archive-date=18 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018043136/http://docs.python.org/library/tkinter.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Similarly, for the [[One Laptop per Child]] XO computer, most of the [[Sugar (software)|Sugar]] desktop environment is written in Python (as of 2008).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python-tkinter-tutorial/ |title=Python Tkinter Tutorial |date=3 June 2020 |access-date=9 June 2023 |archive-date=9 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609031631/https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python-tkinter-tutorial/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
=== Exception handling ===
 
Python is embedded in many software products (and some hardware products) as a scripting language. These products include the following:
Python supports (and extensively uses) [[exception handling]] as a means of testing for error conditions and other "exceptional" events in a program. Indeed, it is even possible to trap the exception caused by a [[syntax error]].
 
* [[finite element method]] software such as [[Abaqus]],
Python style calls for the use of exceptions whenever an error condition might arise. Indeed, rather than testing for access to a file or resource before actually using it, it is conventional in Python to just go ahead and try to use it, catching the exception if access is rejected.
* 3D parametric modelers such as [[FreeCAD]],
* 3D animation packages such as [[3ds Max]], [[Blender (software)|Blender]], [[Cinema 4D]], [[LightWave 3D|Lightwave]], [[Houdini (software)|Houdini]], [[Maya (software)|Maya]], [[modo (software)|modo]], [[MotionBuilder]], [[Autodesk Softimage|Softimage]],
* the visual effects compositor [[Nuke (software)|Nuke]],
* 2D imaging programs such as [[GIMP]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/faq.html |title=Installers for GIMP for Windows – Frequently Asked Questions |author=<!-- Staff writer(s); no by-line. --> |date=26 July 2013 |access-date=26 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130717070814/http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/faq.html |archive-date=17 July 2013}}</ref> [[Inkscape]], [[Scribus]] and [[Paint Shop Pro]],<ref name="AutoNT-38" /> and
* [[musical notation]] programs such as [[scorewriter]] and [[Capella (notation program)|capella]].
 
Similarly, [[GNU Debugger]] uses Python as a [[pretty printer]] to show complex structures such as C++ containers. [[Esri]] promotes Python as the best choice for writing scripts in [[ArcGIS]].<ref name="AutoNT-39" /> Python has also been used in several video games,<ref name="AutoNT-40" /><ref name="AutoNT-41" /> and it has been adopted as first of the three [[programming language]]s available in [[Google App Engine]] (the other two being [[Java (software platform)|Java]] and [[Go (programming language)|Go]]).<ref name="AutoNT-42" /> [[LibreOffice]] includes Python, and its developers plan to replace Java with Python; LibreOffice's Python Scripting Provider is a core feature<ref>{{cite web |year=2013 |title=4.0 New Features and Fixes |url=http://www.libreoffice.org/download/4-0-new-features-and-fixes/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209184807/http://www.libreoffice.org/download/4-0-new-features-and-fixes/ |archive-date=9 February 2014 |access-date=25 February 2013 |work=LibreOffice.org |publisher=[[The Document Foundation]]}}</ref> since version 4.0 (from 7 February 2013).
Exceptions can also be used as a more general means of non-local transfer of control, even when an error is not at issue. For instance, the [[GNU Mailman|Mailman]] mailing list software, written in Python, uses exceptions to jump out of deeply-nested message-handling logic when a decision has been made to reject a message or hold it for moderator approval.
 
Among hardware products, the [[Raspberry Pi]] [[single-board computer]] project has adopted Python as its main user-programming language.
Exceptions are often, especially in [[Thread (computer science)|threaded]] situations, used as an alternative to the <code>if</code>-block. A commonly-invoked motto is EAFP, or "It is Easier to Ask for Forgiveness than to ask for Permission." Consider these two equivalent pieces of code:
 
Many operating systems include Python as a standard component. Python ships with most [[Linux distribution]]s,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docs.python.org/3/using/unix.html|title=Python Setup and Usage|publisher=Python Software Foundation|access-date=10 January 2020|archive-date=17 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617143505/https://docs.python.org/3/using/unix.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[AmigaOS 4]] (using Python&nbsp;2.7), [[FreeBSD]] (as a package), [[NetBSD]], and [[OpenBSD]] (as a package); it can be used from the command line (terminal). Many Linux distributions use installers written in Python: [[Ubuntu]] uses the [[Ubiquity (software)|Ubiquity]] installer, while [[Red Hat Linux]] and [[Fedora Linux]] use the [[Anaconda (installer)|Anaconda]] installer. [[Gentoo Linux]] uses Python in its [[package management system]], [[Portage (software)|Portage]].<ref name="AutoNT-51" />
try:
baz = foo.bar
except AttributeError:
handle_error()
 
Python is used extensively in the information security industry, including in exploit development.<ref name="AutoNT-49" /><ref name="AutoNT-50" />
if hasattr(foo, 'bar'):
baz = foo.bar
else:
handle_error()
 
==Limitations==
== Standard library ==
* The energy usage of Python is much worse than C by a factor of 75.88.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Pereira |first=Rui |last2=Couto |first2=Marco |last3=Ribeiro |first3=Francisco |last4=Rua |first4=Rui |last5=Cunha |first5=Jácome |last6=Fernandes |first6=João Paulo |last7=Saraiva |first7=João |date=2017-10-23 |title=Energy efficiency across programming languages: how do energy, time, and memory relate? |url=https://doi.org/10.1145/3136014.3136031 |journal=Proceedings of the 10th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Software Language Engineering |series=SLE 2017 |___location=New York, NY, USA |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery |pages=256–267 |doi=10.1145/3136014.3136031 |isbn=978-1-4503-5525-4}}</ref>
* Python lacks do while loops<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-ideas/2013-June/021610.html|title=[Python-ideas] PEP 315: do-while}}</ref>
* The throughput of Python is worse than C by a factor of 71.9.<ref name=":1" />
* The average memory usage of Python is worse than C by a factor of 2.4.<ref name=":1" />
* Creating an executable with Python requires bundling the entire Python interpreter into the executable, which causes binary sizes of small executable to be massive. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://pyinstaller.org/en/stable/operating-mode.html|title=What PyInstaller Does and How It Does It}}</ref>
* Significant whitespace causes Python scripts to be difficult to minify. The most compact minification can transform each indent level into a tab. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://github.com/dflook/python-minifier/issues/130|title=Feature Request: Whitespace Minification and Line Merging Options #130}}</ref> However, this always takes up at least as much or more than braces.
 
==Languages influenced by Python==
[[Image:Python batteries included.jpg|thumb|300px|Python comes with "batteries included"]]
Python's design and philosophy have influenced many other programming languages:
* [[Boo (programming language)|Boo]] uses indentation, a similar syntax, and a similar object model.<ref name="AutoNT-90"/>
* [[Cobra (programming language)|Cobra]] uses indentation and a similar syntax; its ''Acknowledgements'' document lists Python first among influencing languages.<ref name="AutoNT-91"/>
* [[CoffeeScript]], a programming language that cross-compiles to JavaScript, has a Python-inspired syntax.
* [[ECMAScript]]–[[JavaScript]] borrowed iterators and [[generator (computer science)|generators]] from Python.<ref name="AutoNT-93"/>
* [[GDScript]], a Python-like scripting language that is built in to the [[Godot (game engine)|Godot]] game engine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/about/faq.html|title=Frequently asked questions|website=Godot Engine documentation|access-date=10 May 2021|archive-date=28 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428053339/https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/about/faq.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Go (programming language)|Go]] is designed for "speed of working in a dynamic language like Python";<ref name="AutoNT-94"/> Go shares Python's syntax for slicing arrays.
* [[Groovy (programming language)|Groovy]] was motivated by a desire to incorporate the Python design philosophy into [[Java (programming language)|Java]].<ref name="AutoNT-95"/>
* [[Julia (programming language)|Julia]] was designed to be "as usable for general programming as Python".<ref name=Julia>{{cite web |title= Why We Created Julia |date= February 2012 |website= Julia website |url= https://julialang.org/blog/2012/02/why-we-created-julia |access-date= 5 June 2014 |quote= We want something as usable for general programming as Python [...] |archive-date= 2 May 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200502144010/https://julialang.org/blog/2012/02/why-we-created-julia/ |url-status= live}}</ref>
* [[Mojo (programming language)|Mojo]] is a non-strict<ref name="Mojo"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Modular Docs – Why Mojo |url=https://docs.modular.com/mojo/why-mojo.html |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=docs.modular.com |language=en |quote=Mojo as a member of the Python family [..] Embracing Python massively simplifies our design efforts, because most of the syntax is already specified. [..] we decided that the right long-term goal for Mojo is to provide a superset of Python (i.e. be compatible with existing programs) and to embrace the CPython immediately for long-tail ecosystem enablement. To a Python programmer, we expect and hope that Mojo will be immediately familiar, while also providing new tools for developing systems-level code that enable you to do things that Python falls back to C and C++ for. |archive-date=5 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505083518/https://docs.modular.com/mojo/why-mojo.html |url-status=live}}</ref> superset of Python (e.g., omitting classes, and adding [[struct]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Spencer |first=Michael |title=What is Mojo Programming Language? |url=https://datasciencelearningcenter.substack.com/p/what-is-mojo-programming-language |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=datasciencelearningcenter.substack.com |date=4 May 2023 |language=en |archive-date=5 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505090408/https://datasciencelearningcenter.substack.com/p/what-is-mojo-programming-language |url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Nim (programming language)|Nim]] uses indentation and a similar syntax.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.infoworld.com/article/3157745/application-development/nim-language-draws-from-best-of-python-rust-go-and-lisp.html |title=Nim language draws from best of Python, Rust, Go, and Lisp |first=Serdar |last=Yegulalp |date=16 January 2017 |website=InfoWorld |quote=Nim's syntax is strongly reminiscent of Python's, as it uses indented code blocks and some of the same syntax (such as the way if/elif/then/else blocks are constructed). |access-date=7 June 2020 |archive-date=13 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013211847/https://www.infoworld.com/article/3157745/application-development/nim-language-draws-from-best-of-python-rust-go-and-lisp.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]]'s creator, [[Yukihiro Matsumoto]], said that "I wanted a scripting language that was more powerful than Perl, and more object-oriented than Python. That's why I decided to design my own language."<ref name="linuxdevcenter"/>
* [[Swift (programming language)|Swift]], a programming language developed by Apple, has some Python-inspired syntax.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nondot.org/sabre |title=Chris Lattner's Homepage |publisher=Chris Lattner |first=Chris |last=Lattner |author-link=Chris Lattner |date=3 June 2014 |access-date=3 June 2014 |quote=I started work on the Swift Programming Language in July of 2010. I implemented much of the basic language structure, with only a few people knowing of its existence. A few other (amazing) people started contributing in earnest late in 2011, and it became a major focus for the Apple Developer Tools group in July 2013 [...] drawing ideas from Objective-C, Rust, Haskell, Ruby, Python, C#, CLU, and far too many others to list. |archive-date=22 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222150510/http://nondot.org/sabre/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Kotlin (programming language)|Kotlin]] blends Python and Java features, which minimizes boilerplate code and enhances developer efficiency.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jalan |first=Nishant Aanjaney |date=2022-11-10 |title=Programming in Kotlin |url=https://medium.com/codex/programming-in-kotlin-934bdb3659cf |access-date=2024-04-29 |website=CodeX |language=en}}</ref>
 
Python's development practices have also been emulated by other languages. For example, Python requires a document that describes the rationale and context for any language change; this document is known as a ''Python Enhancement Proposal'' or PEP. This practice is also used by the developers of [[Tcl]],<ref name="AutoNT-99"/> [[Erlang (programming language)|Erlang]],<ref name="AutoNT-100"/> and Swift.<ref>{{cite web |title=Swift Evolution Process |date=18 February 2020 |website=Swift Programming Language Evolution repository on GitHub |url=https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/blob/master/process.md |access-date=27 April 2020 |archive-date=27 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427182556/https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/blob/master/process.md |url-status=live}}</ref>
Python has a large [[standard library]], which makes it well suited to many tasks. This comes from a so-called "batteries included" philosophy for Python modules.
The modules of the standard library can be augmented with custom modules written in either C or Python. The standard library is particularly well tailored to writing Internet-facing applications, with a large number of standard formats and protocols (such as [[MIME]] and [[HTTP]]) supported. Modules for creating [[graphical user interface]]s, connecting to [[relational database]]s, arithmetic with [http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0327.html arbitrarily precise decimals], and manipulating [[regular expression]]s are also included.
 
==See also==
The standard library is one of Python's greatest strengths. The bulk of it is cross-platform compatible, meaning that even heavily leveraged Python programs can often run on Unix, Windows, Macintosh, and other platforms without change.
{{Portal|Computer programming|Free and open-source software}}
* [[Google Colab]]{{snd}} zero setup [[Online integrated development environment|online IDE]] that runs Python
* [[pip (package manager)]]
 
{{Clear}}
It is currently being debated whether or not third-party but open source Python modules such as [[Twisted]], [[Numerical Python|NumPy]], or [[wxPython]] should be included in the standard library, in accordance with the batteries included philosophy.
 
==Notes==
== Other features ==
{{Notelist}}
The Python interpreter also supports an ''interactive mode'' in which expressions can be entered from the terminal and results seen immediately. This is a boon for those learning the language and experienced developers alike: snippets of code can be tested in interactive mode before integrating them into a program proper.
 
==References==
Python also includes a [[unit testing]] framework for creating exhaustive test suites. While [[Static_typing|static typing]] aficionados see this as a replacement for a static type-checking system, Python programmers largely do not share this view.
{{reflist|25em|refs=
 
<ref name="faq-created">{{cite web |url=https://docs.python.org/faq/general.html#why-was-python-created-in-the-first-place |title=Why was Python created in the first place? |work=General Python FAQ |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=22 March 2007 |archive-date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024164224/http://docs.python.org/faq/general.html#why-was-python-created-in-the-first-place |url-status=live |quote=I had extensive experience with implementing an interpreted language in the ABC group at CWI, and from working with this group I had learned a lot about language design. This is the origin of many Python features, including the use of indentation for statement grouping and the inclusion of very high-level data types (although the details are all different in Python).}}</ref>
Standard Python does not support [[continuations]] (and never will, according to [[Guido van Rossum]]), but there is a variant known as [[Stackless Python]] that does. However, support for [[coroutine]]s (based on generators) is planned, see [http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0342.html].
 
<ref name="98-interview">{{cite web |url=http://www.amk.ca/python/writing/gvr-interview |title=Interview with Guido van Rossum (July 1998) |last=Kuchling |first=Andrew M. |work=amk.ca |date=22 December 2006 |access-date=12 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501105422/http://www.amk.ca/python/writing/gvr-interview |archive-date=1 May 2007 |quote=I'd spent a summer at DEC's Systems Research Center, which introduced me to Modula-2+; the Modula-3 final report was being written there at about the same time. What I learned there later showed up in Python's exception handling, modules, and the fact that methods explicitly contain 'self' in their parameter list. String slicing came from Algol-68 and Icon.}}</ref>
== Neologisms ==
 
<ref name="AutoNT-1">{{cite journal |last=van Rossum |first=Guido |year=1993 |title=An Introduction to Python for UNIX/C Programmers |journal=Proceedings of the NLUUG Najaarsconferentie (Dutch UNIX Users Group) |quote=even though the design of C is far from ideal, its influence on Python is considerable. |citeseerx=10.1.1.38.2023}}</ref>
A few [[neologism]]s have come into common use within the Python community.
One of the most common is '''"pythonic"''', which can have a wide range of meanings related to program style. To say that a piece of code is pythonic is to say that it uses Python idioms well; that it is natural or shows fluency in the language. Likewise, to say of an interface or language feature that it is pythonic is to say that it works well with Python idioms; that its use meshes well with the rest of the language.
 
<ref name="classmix">{{cite web |url=https://docs.python.org/tutorial/classes.html |title=Classes |work=The Python Tutorial |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=20 February 2012 |quote=It is a mixture of the class mechanisms found in C++ and Modula-3 |archive-date=23 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023030209/http://docs.python.org/tutorial/classes.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
In contrast, a mark of '''unpythonic''' code is that it attempts to "write C++ (or Lisp, or Perl) code in Python"&mdash;that is, provides a rough transcription rather than an idiomatic translation of forms from another language.
 
<ref name="effbot-call-by-object">{{cite web |url=http://effbot.org/zone/call-by-object.htm |title=Call By Object |work=effbot.org |last=Lundh |first=Fredrik |quote=replace "CLU" with "Python", "record" with "instance", and "procedure" with "function or method", and you get a pretty accurate description of Python's object model. |access-date=21 November 2017 |archive-date=23 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123043655/http://effbot.org/zone/call-by-object.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>
The prefix ''Py-'' can be used to show that something is related to Python. Examples of the use of this prefix in names of Python applications or libraries include [[Pygame]], a binding of [[Simple DirectMedia Layer|SDL]] to Python; [http://pyui.sourceforge.net/ PyUI], a GUI encoded entirely in Python; PySol, a series of card games programmed in Python; and PyAlaMode, an IDE for Python created by [[Orbtech]], a company specializing in Python.
 
<ref name="AutoNT-2">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/download/releases/2.3/mro/ |title=The Python 2.3 Method Resolution Order |last=Simionato |first=Michele |publisher=Python Software Foundation |quote=The C3 method itself has nothing to do with Python, since it was invented by people working on Dylan and it is described in a paper intended for lispers |access-date=29 July 2014 |archive-date=20 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820231854/https://www.python.org/download/releases/2.3/mro/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
Users and admirers of Python&mdash;most especially those considered knowledgeable or experienced&mdash;are often referred to as '''Pythonistas'''.
 
<ref name="AutoNT-3">{{cite web |url=https://docs.python.org/howto/functional.html |title=Functional Programming HOWTO |last=Kuchling |first=A. M. |work=Python v2.7.2 documentation |publisher=Python Software Foundation |quote=List comprehensions and generator expressions [...] are a concise notation for such operations, borrowed from the functional programming language Haskell. |access-date=9 February 2012 |archive-date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024163217/http://docs.python.org/howto/functional.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
==Supported platforms==
 
<ref name="pep0238">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0238/ |title=PEP 238&nbsp;– Changing the Division Operator |first1=Moshe |last1=Zadka |first2=Guido |last2=van Rossum |date=11 March 2001 |work=Python Enhancement Proposals |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=23 October 2013 |archive-date=28 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528115550/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0238/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
The most popular (and therefore best maintained) platforms Python runs on are [[Linux]], [[BSD]], [[Mac OS X]], [[Microsoft Windows]] and [[Java virtual machine|Java]] (this JVM version is a separate implementation). Other supported platforms include:
 
<ref name="AutoNT-4">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0255/ |title=PEP 255&nbsp;– Simple Generators |first1=Neil |last1=Schemenauer |first2=Tim |last2=Peters |first3=Magnus Lie |last3=Hetland |date=18 May 2001 |work=Python Enhancement Proposals |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=9 February 2012 |archive-date=5 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605012926/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0255/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Amiga]]
* [[AROS]]
* [[AS/400]]
* [[BeOS]]
* [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]]
* [[FreeBSD]]
* [[Mac OS 9]]
* [[NetBSD]]
* [[OpenBSD]]
* [[OS/2]]
* [[OS/390]]
* Other [[Unix]]es, e.g. [[Irix]]
* [[Palm OS]]
* [[Plan 9]]
* [[PlayStation 2]]
* [[Psion]]
* [[QNX]]
* [[RISC OS]] (formerly Acorn)
* [[Sharp Zaurus]]
* [[SPARC]] [[Solaris Operating Environment|Solaris]]
* [[Symbian OS]]
* [[VMS]]
* [[VxWorks]]
* [[Windows CE]]/[[Pocket PC]]
* [[Xbox]] (Used primarily in the [[XBMC]] project)
* [[z/OS]]
 
<ref name="AutoNT-6">{{cite web |url=https://docs.python.org/3.2/tutorial/controlflow.html |title=More Control Flow Tools |work=Python 3 documentation |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=24 July 2015 |archive-date=4 June 2016 |quote=By popular demand, a few features commonly found in functional programming languages like Lisp have been added to Python. With the lambda keyword, small anonymous functions can be created. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604080843/https://docs.python.org/3.2/tutorial/controlflow.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
Most of the third-party libraries for Python (and even some first-party ones) are only available on Windows, Linux, BSD, and Mac OS X.
 
<ref name="bini">{{cite book |last=Bini |first=Ola |title=Practical JRuby on Rails Web 2.0 Projects: bringing Ruby on Rails to the Java platform |year=2007 |publisher=APress |___location=Berkeley |isbn=978-1-59059-881-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/practicaljrubyon0000bini/page/3 3] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/practicaljrubyon0000bini/page/3}}</ref>
Python was originally developed as a [[scripting]] language for the [[Amoeba distributed operating system|Amoeba]] operating system capable of making [[system call]]s; that version is no longer maintained.
 
<ref name="AutoNT-7">{{cite web |last=Kuhlman |first=Dave |url=https://www.davekuhlman.org/python_book_01.pdf|title=A Python Book: Beginning Python, Advanced Python, and Python Exercises |at=Section 1.1|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623165941/http://cutter.rexx.com/~dkuhlman/python_book_01.html |archive-date=23 June 2012}}</ref>
==Python usage==
Python is actively used by many people, both in industry and academia for a wide variety of purposes. [http://pythonology.com/success Pythonology] lists numerous Python success stories in many types of application and problem domains.
 
<ref name="venners-interview-pt-1">{{cite web |url=http://www.artima.com/intv/pythonP.html |title=The Making of Python |last=Venners |first=Bill |date=13 January 2003 |work=Artima Developer |publisher=Artima |access-date=22 March 2007 |archive-date=1 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160901183332/http://www.artima.com/intv/pythonP.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Major organizations using Python===
* [[Google]] uses Python for many tasks including the backends of web apps such as [[Gmail]] and [[Google Maps]] and for many of its search-engine internals.
 
<ref name="timeline-of-python">{{cite web |url=https://python-history.blogspot.com/2009/01/brief-timeline-of-python.html |title=A Brief Timeline of Python |last=van Rossum |first=Guido |date=20 January 2009 |work=The History of Python |access-date=20 January 2009 |archive-date=5 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605032200/https://python-history.blogspot.com/2009/01/brief-timeline-of-python.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Software written in Python===
 
<ref name="AutoNT-12">{{cite mailing list |url=https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2000-August/008881.html |title=SETL (was: Lukewarm about range literals) |date=29 August 2000 |access-date=13 March 2011 |mailing-list=Python-Dev |last=van Rossum |first=Guido |author-link=Guido van Rossum |archive-date=14 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714064019/https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2000-August/008881.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[BitTorrent]], the original implementation and several derivatives.
* [[Chandler (PIM)|Chandler]] is a personal information manager including calendar, email, tasks and notes support.
* [[GNOME]], the [[Desktop environment|desktop environment]], makes use of python for building graphical interfaces with the [[GTK]] toolkit.
* [[GNU Mailman|Mailman]], one of the more popular packages for running email mailing lists.
* [[MoinMoin]], a popular wiki engine in Python.
* [[OpenRPG]] provides a virtual table on which to play Role Playing Games over the internet.
* [[Portage (software)|Portage]], the heart of Gentoo Linux. An advanced package management system based on the *BSD style ports system.
* [[Solipsis|Solipsis]], a system for massively shared virtual world.
* [[Trac]] - bug/issue tracking database, integrated with [[MoinMoin]] wiki and [[Subversion (software)|Subversion]] source version control
* [[ViewCVS]], a web-based interface for browsing [[Concurrent Versions System|CVS]] repositories
* [[Wikipedia]] has a Python framework for creating [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pywikipedia webbots].
* [[Zope]], an object-oriented web-application platform. Zope includes an application server with an integrated object-oriented database and a built-in web-based management interface.
 
<ref name="newin-2.0">{{cite web |url=https://docs.python.org/whatsnew/2.0.html |title=What's New in Python 2.0 |last1=Kuchling |first1=A. M. |last2=Zadka |first2=Moshe |date=16 October 2000 |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=11 February 2012 |archive-date=23 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023112045/http://docs.python.org/whatsnew/2.0.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Packages for Python===
 
<ref name="AutoNT-13">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/community/pycon/dc2004/papers/24/metaclasses-pycon.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530030205/http://www.python.org/community/pycon/dc2004/papers/24/metaclasses-pycon.pdf |archive-date=30 May 2009 |title=Python Metaclasses: Who? Why? When? |last=The Cain Gang Ltd. |access-date=27 June 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
The [http://www.python.org/pypi Python Cheese Shop] and [http://www.vex.net/parnassus/ Vaults of Parnassus] are two primary directories of hundereds of Python packages.
 
<ref name="AutoNT-14">{{cite web |url=https://docs.python.org/3.0/reference/datamodel.html#special-method-names |title=3.3. Special method names |work=The Python Language Reference |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=27 June 2009 |archive-date=15 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215123146/https://docs.python.org/3.0/reference/datamodel.html#special-method-names |url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[matplotlib]], http://matplotlib.sf.net ,an extension providing matlab-like plotting and mathematical functions
* [[mod_python]], an [[Apache server|Apache]] module allowing direct integration of Python scripts with the Apache web server.
* [[Numeric Python]], a language extension that adds support for large, multi-dimensional arrays and matrices.
* [[Pygame]] http://www.pygame.org Python game development
* [[PyGTK]], http://www.pygtk.org/, a popular cross-platform GUI library based on GTK+
* [[Python Imaging Library]], a module for working with images
* [http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/pyqt/ PyQt], another popular cross-platform GUI library based on Qt
* [http://www.mems-exchange.org/software/quixote/ Quixote] a framework for developing Web applications in Python
* [[SciPy]], a library of scientific and numerical routines
* [[Twisted]], a networking framework for Python
* [http://www.wxpython.org/ wxPython], a port of [[wxWidgets]] and a popular cross-platform GUI library for Python
* [http://zope.org/Wikis/ZODB/FrontPage/guide/zodb.html ZODB] a Python-specific object-oriented database
 
<ref name="AutoNT-15">{{cite web |url=http://www.nongnu.org/pydbc/ |title=PyDBC: method preconditions, method postconditions and class invariants for Python |access-date=24 September 2011 |archive-date=23 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123231931/http://www.nongnu.org/pydbc/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
=== Python Implementations ===
* [http://www.python.org CPython] - Python default/reference implementation
* [[Jython]] - Python coded in Java
* [[IronPython]] - Python for [[Microsoft .NET|.NET]] and [[Mono development platform|Mono]] platforms
* [[Boo programming language|Boo]] - Python-based but with [[static typing]], for [[Microsoft .NET|.NET]] and [[Mono development platform|Mono]]
* [http://www.stackless.com/ Stackless Python]
* [http://codespeak.net/pypy/ PyPy] - Python coded in Python
* [[Parrot virtual machine|Parrot]] - Virtual machine being developed mainly as the runtime for Perl 6, but with the intent to also support dynamic languages like Python, Ruby, Tcl, etc. Can currently execute a subset of Python.
* [http://livelogix.net/logix/ Logix] - Python alternate front-end with macros
 
<ref name="AutoNT-16">{{cite web |url=http://www.wayforward.net/pycontract/ |title=Contracts for Python |access-date=24 September 2011 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615173404/http://www.wayforward.net/pycontract/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
==External links and references==
{{wikibookspar|Programming|Python}}
===Books===
* [http://www.techbooksforfree.com/perlpython.shtml Free downloads of Python books]
*[http://www.network-theory.co.uk/python/language/ The Python Language Reference Manual] by Guido van Rossum and Fred L. Drake, Jr. (ISBN 0-9541617-8-5)
*[http://www.byteofpython.info/ ''A Byte of Python''] is a beginner's book on Python.
*[http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/ ''How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python''] is an introduction to function-based programming constructs using Python - free download available or hardcopy may be purchased. (ISBN 0971677506)
*[http://www.gnosis.cx/TPiP/ Text Processing in Python] by [[David Mertz]] is an intermediate Python book, available both online for free and for money from [[Addison-Wesley]]. (ISBN 0321112547)
*''[[Dive into Python]]'' demonstrates clever and useful Python paradigms for readers who know how to program already. It is [http://www.diveintopython.org/toc.html available online], or hardcopy may be purchased.
*[http://www.fbeedle.com/99-6.html ''Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science''] by John Zelle is an introduction to programming using Python, and is suitable for beginning programmers.
 
<ref name="AutoNT-17">{{cite web |url=https://sites.google.com/site/pydatalog/ |title=PyDatalog |access-date=22 July 2012 |archive-date=13 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613160231/https://sites.google.com/site/pydatalog/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Web resources===
* [http://www.python.org/ Python.org] &mdash; Official project home.
* [http://www.python.org/doc/versions.html Python Documentation]
* [http://www.python.org/doc/ Python Tutorials and References] &mdash; Several are available from Python.org.
* [http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/moinmoin Python Wiki]
* [http://www.faqts.com/knowledge_base/index.phtml/fid/199 Python FAQTs]
* [http://wiki.cs.uiuc.edu/cs427/python The Architecture of Python] discusses Python internals.
* [http://www.pyzine.com/ ''Py''], "The Python Online Technical Journal".
* [http://www.codesampler.com/python.htm Samples to extend and embed Python with C/C++]
* [http://www.pycode.com/ PyCode] &mdash; Python Resources and Modules collection.
* [http://dmoz.org/Computers/Programming/Languages/Python Open Directory: Python] &mdash; Many Python resources.
* The [http://www.vex.net/parnassus/ Vaults of Parnassus] &mdash; Links to resources.
* [http://www.vex.net/parnassus/parnassus-story.html Vaults story] &mdash; Python humor.
* [http://xahlee.org/perl-python/python.html A-Python-A-Day] &mdash; Mailing list with daily examples of Python use. Home page has links to many past tips. Examples given in Python and Perl to help Perl programmers learn Python.
* [http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonSpeed/PerformanceTips Python Performance Tips] &mdash; Tips and tricks to help you improve the performance of python programs.
* [http://pythonphotos.org/ PythonPhotos.org] &mdash; Public photo archive for the Python developer community.
* [http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/pyBiblio/pythonvideo.php Python Bibliotheca] &mdash; Features video: "Introducing Python" with "A Python Love Story", also books, practice problems, workshops, communities, poetry, all are open content.
* [http://gnosis.cx/publish/tech_index_cp.html Charming Python] &mdash; Series of articles on Python topics by [[David Mertz]].
* [http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/python.html Norm Matloff's Quick Python Tutorials ] &mdash; UC Davis Professor Norm Matloff's published Python web resources for his students and Python explorers.
 
<ref name="AutoNT-18">{{cite web |url=https://docs.python.org/3/library/itertools.html |title=6.5 itertools&nbsp;– Functions creating iterators for efficient looping |publisher=Docs.python.org |access-date=22 November 2016 |archive-date=14 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614153629/https://docs.python.org/3/library/itertools.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Non-English resources===
*[http://www.pythonbrasil.com.br/ Python Wiki in Portuguese]
*[http://www.pythonwiki.de/ Python Wiki in German]
 
<ref name="PEP20">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/ |title=PEP 20&nbsp;– The Zen of Python |last=Peters |first=Tim |date=19 August 2004 |work=Python Enhancement Proposals |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=24 November 2008 |archive-date=26 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226141127/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-19">{{cite book |url=http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596007973.do |title=Python Cookbook, 2nd Edition |publisher=[[O'Reilly Media]] |last1=Martelli |first1=Alex |last2=Ravenscroft |first2=Anna |last3=Ascher |first3=David |year=2005 |page=230 |isbn=978-0-596-00797-3 |access-date=14 November 2015 |archive-date=23 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223171254/http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596007973.do |url-status=live}}</ref>
{{Major programming languages small}}
 
<ref name="AutoNT-20">{{cite web |title=Python Culture |website=ebeab |date=January 21, 2014 |url=http://ebeab.com/2014/01/21/python-culture/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140130021902/http://ebeab.com/2014/01/21/python-culture/ |archive-date=January 30, 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
 
<ref name="PepCite000">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0001/ |title=PEP 1&nbsp;– PEP Purpose and Guidelines |last1=Warsaw |first1=Barry |last2=Hylton |first2=Jeremy |last3=Goodger |first3=David |date=13 June 2000 |work=Python Enhancement Proposals |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=19 April 2011 |archive-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606042011/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0001/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-21">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/intro/ |title=Guido, Some Guys, and a Mailing List: How Python is Developed |last=Cannon |first=Brett |work=python.org |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=27 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601134342/http://www.python.org/dev/intro/ |archive-date=1 June 2009}}</ref>
 
<ref name="release-schedule">{{cite web |url=https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2002-April/022739.html |title=&#91;Python-Dev&#93; Release Schedules (was Stability & change) |last=Norwitz |first=Neal |date=8 April 2002 |access-date=27 June 2009 |archive-date=15 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215122750/https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2002-April/022739.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-22">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0006/ |title=PEP 6&nbsp;– Bug Fix Releases |last1=Aahz |last2=Baxter |first2=Anthony |date=15 March 2001 |work=Python Enhancement Proposals |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=27 June 2009 |archive-date=5 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605001318/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0006/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-23">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/buildbot/ |title=Python Buildbot |work=Python Developer's Guide |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=24 September 2011 |archive-date=5 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605001322/https://www.python.org/dev/buildbot/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="whyname">{{cite web |url=https://docs.python.org/3/faq/general.html#why-is-it-called-python |title=Why is it called Python?|work=General Python FAQ |publisher=Docs.python.org |access-date=3 January 2023|archive-date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024164224/http://docs.python.org/faq/general.html#why-is-it-called-python |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="tutorial-chapter1">{{cite web |url=https://docs.python.org/tutorial/appetite.html |title=Whetting Your Appetite |work=The Python Tutorial |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=20 February 2012 |archive-date=26 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026063559/http://docs.python.org/tutorial/appetite.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-26">{{cite web |url=https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5033906/in-python-should-i-use-else-after-a-return-in-an-if-block |title=In Python, should I use else after a return in an if block? |date=17 February 2011 |work=[[Stack Overflow]] |publisher=Stack Exchange |access-date=6 May 2011 |archive-date=20 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620000050/https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5033906/in-python-should-i-use-else-after-a-return-in-an-if-block |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="quotes-about-python">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/about/quotes/ |title=Quotes about Python |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=8 January 2012 |archive-date=3 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603135201/https://www.python.org/about/quotes/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-29">{{cite web |url=https://wiki.python.org/moin/OrganizationsUsingPython |title=Organizations Using Python |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=15 January 2009 |archive-date=21 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821075931/https://wiki.python.org/moin/OrganizationsUsingPython |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-30">{{cite journal |title=Python : the holy grail of programming |journal=CERN Bulletin |issue=31/2006 |publisher=CERN Publications |date=31 July 2006 |url=http://cdsweb.cern.ch/journal/CERNBulletin/2006/31/News%20Articles/974627?ln=en |access-date=11 February 2012 |archive-date=15 January 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130115191843/http://cdsweb.cern.ch/journal/CERNBulletin/2006/31/News%20Articles/974627?ln=en |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-31">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/about/success/usa/ |title=Python Streamlines Space Shuttle Mission Design |last=Shafer |first=Daniel G. |date=17 January 2003 |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=24 November 2008 |archive-date=5 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605093424/https://www.python.org/about/success/usa/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-32">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/about/success/ilm/ |title=Industrial Light & Magic Runs on Python |last=Fortenberry |first=Tim |date=17 January 2003 |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=11 February 2012 |archive-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606042020/https://www.python.org/about/success/ilm/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-33">{{cite web |url=http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Python-Slithers-into-Systems/ |title=Python Slithers into Systems |last=Taft |first=Darryl K. |date=5 March 2007 |work=eWeek.com |publisher=Ziff Davis Holdings |access-date=24 September 2011 |archive-date=13 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813194304/https://www.eweek.com/development/python-slithers-into-systems/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-35">{{cite web |title=Usage statistics and market share of Python for websites |year=2012 |url=http://w3techs.com/technologies/details/pl-python/all/all |access-date=18 December 2012 |archive-date=13 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813194305/https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/pl-python |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-38">{{cite web |url=http://www.jasc.com/support/customercare/articles/psp9components.asp |title=jasc psp9components |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319061519/http://www.jasc.com/support/customercare/articles/psp9components.asp |archive-date=19 March 2008}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-39">{{cite web |url=http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisdesktop/9.2/index.cfm?TopicName=About_getting_started_with_writing_geoprocessing_scripts |title=About getting started with writing geoprocessing scripts |date=17 November 2006 |work=ArcGIS Desktop Help 9.2 |publisher=Environmental Systems Research Institute |access-date=11 February 2012 |archive-date=5 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605144616/http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisdesktop/9.2/index.cfm?TopicName=About_getting_started_with_writing_geoprocessing_scripts |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-40">{{cite web |url=http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/stackless-python-2.7/ |title=Stackless Python 2.7 |publisher=[[CCP Games]] |date=24 August 2010 |author=CCP porkbelly |work=EVE Community Dev Blogs |quote=As you may know, EVE has at its core the programming language known as Stackless Python. |access-date=11 January 2014 |archive-date=11 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111155537/http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/stackless-python-2.7/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-41">{{cite web |url=http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/blog_03.htm |title=Modding Sid Meier's Civilization IV |last=Caudill |first=Barry |date=20 September 2005 |publisher=[[Firaxis Games]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202164144/http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/blog_03.htm |archive-date=2 December 2010 |work=Sid Meier's Civilization IV Developer Blog |quote=we created three levels of tools ... The next level offers Python and XML support, letting modders with more experience manipulate the game world and everything in it. |url-status=dead}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-42">{{cite web |url=https://code.google.com/apis/documents/docs/1.0/developers_guide_python.html |title=Python Language Guide (v1.0) |work=Google Documents List Data API v1.0 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100715145616/http://code.google.com/apis/documents/docs/1.0/developers_guide_python.html |archive-date=15 July 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
 
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<ref name="AutoNT-52">{{cite web |title=Is Python a good language for beginning programmers? |url=https://docs.python.org/faq/general.html#is-python-a-good-language-for-beginning-programmers |work=General Python FAQ |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=21 March 2007 |archive-date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024164224/http://docs.python.org/faq/general.html#is-python-a-good-language-for-beginning-programmers |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
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<!--ref name="AutoNT-54">{{cite web |url=http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?PythonWhiteSpaceDiscussion |title=White Space Discussion |access-date=1 January 2013}}</ref-->
 
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<ref name="AutoNT-57">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0342/ |title=PEP 342&nbsp;– Coroutines via Enhanced Generators |last1=van Rossum |first1=Guido |last2=Eby |first2=Phillip J. |date=10 May 2005 |work=Python Enhancement Proposals |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=19 February 2012 |archive-date=29 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200529003739/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0342/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-58">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0380/ |title=PEP 380 |publisher=Python.org |access-date=3 December 2012 |archive-date=4 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604233821/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0380/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-59">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0289/ |title=PEP 289&nbsp;– Generator Expressions |last=Hettinger |first=Raymond |date=30 January 2002 |work=Python Enhancement Proposals |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=19 February 2012 |archive-date=14 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614153717/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0289/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-60">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0308/ |title=PEP 308&nbsp;– Conditional Expressions |last1=van Rossum |first1=Guido |last2=Hettinger |first2=Raymond |date=7 February 2003 |work=Python Enhancement Proposals |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=13 July 2011 |archive-date=13 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313113147/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0308/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-61">{{cite web |url=https://docs.python.org/faq/design.html#why-must-self-be-used-explicitly-in-method-definitions-and-calls |title=Why must 'self' be used explicitly in method definitions and calls? |work=Design and History FAQ |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=19 February 2012 |archive-date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024164243/http://docs.python.org/faq/design.html#why-must-self-be-used-explicitly-in-method-definitions-and-calls |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="classy">{{cite web |title=The Python Language Reference, section 3.3. New-style and classic classes, for release 2.7.1 |access-date=12 January 2011 |url=https://docs.python.org/reference/datamodel.html#new-style-and-classic-classes |archive-date=26 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026063834/http://docs.python.org/reference/datamodel.html#new-style-and-classic-classes |url-status=dead}}</ref>
 
<ref name="pep0237">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0237/ |title=PEP 237&nbsp;– Unifying Long Integers and Integers |last1=Zadka |first1=Moshe |last2=van Rossum |first2=Guido |date=11 March 2001 |work=Python Enhancement Proposals |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=24 September 2011 |archive-date=28 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528063237/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0237/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-62">{{cite web |url=https://python-history.blogspot.com/2010/08/why-pythons-integer-division-floors.html |title=Why Python's Integer Division Floors |date=24 August 2010 |access-date=25 August 2010 |archive-date=5 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605151500/https://python-history.blogspot.com/2010/08/why-pythons-integer-division-floors.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
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<ref name="AutoNT-70">{{cite web |url=https://pypy.org/compat.html |title=PyPy compatibility |publisher=Pypy.org |access-date=3 December 2012 |archive-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606041845/https://www.pypy.org/compat.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-71">{{cite web |url=https://speed.pypy.org/ |title=speed comparison between CPython and Pypy |publisher=Speed.pypy.org |access-date=3 December 2012 |archive-date=10 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510014902/https://speed.pypy.org/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-73">{{cite web |url=http://doc.pypy.org/en/latest/stackless.html |title=Application-level Stackless features – PyPy 2.0.2 documentation |publisher=Doc.pypy.org |access-date=17 July 2013 |archive-date=4 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604231513/https://doc.pypy.org/en/latest/stackless.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-74">{{cite web |url=https://code.google.com/p/unladen-swallow/wiki/ProjectPlan |title=Plans for optimizing Python |work=Google Project Hosting |date=15 December 2009 |access-date=24 September 2011 |archive-date=11 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160411181848/https://code.google.com/p/unladen-swallow/wiki/ProjectPlan |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-86">{{cite web |first=Przemyslaw |last=Piotrowski |url=http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/piotrowski-pythoncore-084049.html |title=Build a Rapid Web Development Environment for Python Server Pages and Oracle |work=Oracle Technology Network |publisher=Oracle |date=July 2006 |access-date=12 March 2012 |archive-date=2 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402124435/https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/piotrowski-pythoncore-084049.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-88">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0327/ |title=PEP 327&nbsp;– Decimal Data Type |last=Batista |first=Facundo |date=17 October 2003 |work=Python Enhancement Proposals |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=24 November 2008 |archive-date=4 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604234830/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0327/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-89">{{cite web |url=https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0333/ |title=PEP 333&nbsp;– Python Web Server Gateway Interface v1.0 |last=Eby |first=Phillip J. |date=7 December 2003 |work=Python Enhancement Proposals |publisher=Python Software Foundation |access-date=19 February 2012 |archive-date=14 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614170344/https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0333/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-90">{{cite web |url=http://boo.codehaus.org/Gotchas+for+Python+Users |title=Gotchas for Python Users |work=boo.codehaus.org |publisher=Codehaus Foundation |access-date=24 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211062108/http://boo.codehaus.org/Gotchas+for+Python+Users |archive-date=11 December 2008}}</ref>
 
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<ref name="AutoNT-93">{{cite web |url=http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=proposals:iterators_and_generators |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020082650/http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=proposals:iterators_and_generators |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 October 2007 |title=Proposals: iterators and generators [ES4 Wiki&#93; |publisher=wiki.ecmascript.org |access-date=24 November 2008}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-94">{{cite news |url=https://techcrunch.com/2009/11/10/google-go-language/ |title=Google's Go: A New Programming Language That's Python Meets C++ |last=Kincaid |first=Jason |date=10 November 2009 |work=TechCrunch |access-date=29 January 2010 |archive-date=18 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100118014358/http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/10/google-go-language/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-95">{{cite web |last=Strachan |first=James |date=29 August 2003 |title=Groovy&nbsp;– the birth of a new dynamic language for the Java platform |url=http://radio.weblogs.com/0112098/2003/08/29.html |access-date=11 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405085722/http://radio.weblogs.com/0112098/2003/08/29.html |archive-date=5 April 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
 
<ref name="linuxdevcenter">{{cite web |url=http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2001/11/29/ruby.html |title=An Interview with the Creator of Ruby |publisher=Linuxdevcenter.com |access-date=3 December 2012 |archive-date=28 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428150410/http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2001/11/29/ruby.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-99">{{cite web |url=http://www.tcl.tk/cgi-bin/tct/tip/3.html |title=TIP #3: TIP Format |last1=Kupries |first1=Andreas |last2=Fellows |first2=Donal K. |work=tcl.tk |publisher=Tcl Developer Xchange |date=14 September 2000 |access-date=24 November 2008 |archive-date=13 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170713233954/http://tcl.tk/cgi-bin/tct/tip/3.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
<ref name="AutoNT-100">{{cite web |url=http://www.erlang.org/eeps/eep-0001.html |title=EEP 1: EEP Purpose and Guidelines |last1=Gustafsson |first1=Per |last2=Niskanen |first2=Raimo |publisher=erlang.org |date=29 January 2007 |access-date=19 April 2011 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615153206/http://erlang.org/eeps/eep-0001.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
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}}
 
===Sources===
* {{cite web |url=https://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonForArtificialIntelligence |title=Python for Artificial Intelligence |publisher=Python Wiki |date=19 July 2012 |access-date=3 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101045354/http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonForArtificialIntelligence |archive-date=1 November 2012}}
* {{cite journal |editor-last=Paine |editor-first=Jocelyn |title=AI in Python |journal=AI Expert Newsletter |publisher=Amzi! |date=August 2005 |url=http://www.ainewsletter.com/newsletters/aix_0508.htm#python_ai_ai |access-date=11 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326105810/http://www.ainewsletter.com/newsletters/aix_0508.htm#python_ai_ai |archive-date=26 March 2012 |url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web |url=https://pypi.python.org/pypi/PyAIML |title=PyAIML 0.8.5 : Python Package Index |publisher=Pypi.python.org |access-date=17 July 2013}}
* {{cite book |title=Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach |last1=Russell |first1=Stuart J. |author-link1=Stuart J. Russell |last2=Norvig |first2=Peter |author-link2=Peter Norvig |name-list-style=amp |edition=3rd |year=2009 |publisher=Prentice Hall |___location=Upper Saddle River, NJ |isbn=978-0-13-604259-4}}
 
==Further reading==
<!-- THIS IS *NOT* A LIST OF ALL PYTHON BOOKS
According to [[Wikipedia:Further reading]], criteria for inclusion includes:
1. Should clearly qualify as WP:RS, as indicated by reviews and citations to it.
...
5. There should be guidelines on limiting the number of sources.
6. To avoid spam, any book included should have received more than one good review in RS: newspapers and scholarly journals being the norm, and the clear balance of RS reviews should be positive. This would avoid self-publish spamming, POV pushing, and attempts by publishers to get books promoted through inclusion on Wikipedia. At the moment "editorial recommendations" as described in the manual smacks of OR.
7. Neutrality on the part of editors is essential. In terms of major debates, items representing all major positions should be included, with annotations indicating the specific POV of each. We may have to work out rules where topic disputes are irreconcilable.
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* {{cite book |last=Downey |first=Allen |title=Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist |edition=3rd |date=July 2024 |publisher=O'Reilly Media |isbn=978-1098155438 |url=https://allendowney.github.io/ThinkPython/}}
* {{cite book |last=Lutz |first=Mark |title=Learning Python |publisher=O'Reilly Media |year=2013 |edition=5th |isbn=978-0-596-15806-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Summerfield |first=Mark |title=Programming in Python 3 |publisher=Addison-Wesley Professional|year=2009|edition=2nd|isbn=978-0-321-68056-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Ramalho |first=Luciano |title=Fluent Python |url=https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/books/fluent-python-2nd-edition |date=May 2022 |publisher=O'Reilly Media |isbn=978-1-4920-5632-4}}
 
==External links==
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{{Sister project links |wikt=no |display=Python |commons=Category:Python (programming language) |b=Python Programming |n=no |s=no |voy=no |species=no |d=Q28865}}
* {{Official website}}
* [https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/ The Python Tutorial]
 
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