Python is a high-level, interpreted programming language renowned for its readability and simplicity. Created by Guido van Rossum with the first version released in 1991, Python was named after the British comedy series Monty Python. The language supports multiple programming paradigms, including procedural, object-oriented, and functional programming, making it versatile for many kinds of projects.
Among Python's key features are dynamic typing, automatic memory management, an extensive standard library, and cross-platform compatibility. The language emphasizes code readability through significant whitespace, meaning indentation is part of the syntax itself rather than just a stylistic choice. This design encourages developers to write clean, well-structured code.
To run a Python script, save your code in a file with the .py extension and execute python filename.py in the terminal. If Python 2 is also installed, you may need to use python3 instead. For interactive experimentation, Python provides a REPL, which stands for Read-Eval-Print Loop. It can be launched by typing python in the terminal, where it reads each line of input, evaluates it, prints the result, and waits for the next line, making it an excellent tool for testing small snippets of code.