2bsharp

I continue to see Python mentioned as a favorite language for many developers. Many high profile companies use Python as one of their main programming languages. Since it is quite popular and held in such high regard, I feel Python is becoming a language necessary to know.

I created a short introduction Python script to learn the very basics and syntax of the language. It can be used from the command line pretty easily. Here is a quick start guide from Python as I will be focused on the language itself and not the setup. Since I use Eclipse for most of my development, I installed the PyDev extension for Eclipse to make my development process easier and everything went smoothly by following their directions. I didn’t need to install an interpreter as Eclipse found the OS default.

Here is my sample code:

'''
Created on Jul 5, 2011
@author: twobee
@summary: a quick introduction to python's basic syntax
'''
# vars and output
stringvar = "Hello World!"
intvar = 3
floatvar = 3.1415926
listvar = ["one","two","three"]
print "Here is a string: ",stringvar
print "Here is an integer: ",intvar
print "Here is a float: ",floatvar
print "Here is a list: ",listvar," with ",len(listvar)," elements"

# if statement
if intvar < 3 :
    print intvar,"is less than 3"
elif intvar == 3 :
    print "It was",intvar
else :
    print intvar,"is greater than 3"

# for statement
count = 0
for elem in listvar :
    print count,":",elem
    count=count+1

# function definition
def print_evens(max=10):
    count = 0
    while(count<=10) :
        print count,    # comma at end prevents newline
        count = count + 2

# call function
print_evens()

Here is the output:

Here is a string:  Hello World!
Here is an integer:  3
Here is a float:  3.1415926
Here is a list:  ['one', 'two', 'three']  with  3  elements
It was 3
0 : one
1 : two
2 : three
0 2 4 6 8 10

Quick Notes
Comments can be rather odd with the triple quote structure for multiline comments and the hash for the single line comments. One interesting feature I found, but didn't use here is that documentation in comments can be accessed within the language itself, similar to a property of the function or object. It is an interpreted language and that lets you get up and running quickly. There appears to be great flexibility in the language and the variables are loosely typed. The lack of typical syntax does make for cleaner looking code. Part of this may be the use of indentation for actual parsing, largely forcing well-formed code blocks (though alternatives are offered as this article explains).

Python Pros

• Really lightweight feel without seeming incapable
• Syntax is clearly aimed at streamlining the source code
• Runs equally well as a web language or general purpose language
• Appears to have a ton of useful built-in functions
• Open source and well documented, two often overlooked features

Python Cons

• No semicolons! It may just be me, but a line of code feels incomplete without a semicolon
• Using indentation instead of curly braces for blocks of code will have to grow on me
• No ++ function, very minor and not needed, but I've become accustomed to having it available

Of course all of these opinions are formed after only a few hours of time to work with the basic syntax and none of these points really go too deep into the language. In fact the cons are things that will most likely become second nature after spending some time with Python, but they were my initial reactions. I'll be sure to track my opinion and how it changes with my exposure to Python. In the meantime here were some helpful resources:

• Python: Myths about Indentation
• Python vs PHP
• Python Documentation