7 Important Reasons Why You Should Use Python

Cache Merrill -

Python is a powerful and high-level programming language that lets you develop a wide variety of applications, including web applications, software and game development, network programming, graphical user interfaces (GUIs), scientific and numeric applications and more. According to Cuong Do, Software Architect of YouTube, “ Python allows us to produce maintainable features in record times, with a minimum of developers”. There are many success stories with Python, showing that this programming language is helping numerous enterprises in achieving their business goals.

According to PYPL Index and TIOBE Index, Python is the most popular programming language in 2019. PYPL has placed Python in the first position and TIOBE has placed Python in 3rd position in terms of popularity among developers and enterprises.

Why you should use Python

In this article, we have listed some key points that will help you understand the benefits of Python over other programming languages. To understand why you should use Python, read the following:

1. Code is easy to read, use and maintain

The effectiveness of the application greatly depends on the quality of its source code.

A robust application needs a powerful programming language that is easy to read, update and maintain. Python incorporates all these qualities. It offers everything (including a set of huge libraries and utilities) that are needed to build amazing applications, utilities and frameworks.

Some major benefits that Python offers to the developers and the organization:

  • Python has a clean and structured code base, making the updation and maintenance tasks of the software easier for developers. They don’t require developers to write additional code, and this, in turn, saves them effort and valuable time. Hence, they can utilize their time on something more productive for the organization.
  • The syntax rule of Python is composed mainly of English keywords, emphasizing the code readability. Code readability plays a major role while building the application. Customers' requirements can change when the software gets to employed in the real-world. With Python, you don’t need to worry about the changing requirements. Even if developers who have previously built the application have left the organization, the new developers can easily read and understand the original version of the code and implement the new requirements accordingly.

2. Supports multiple programming paradigms

Python is constructed with the aim to help developers write logical and clean code for both large-scale and small-scale projects.

An important feature that makes Python suitable for large and complex applications is it supports multiple programming paradigms (meaning ways to classify programming languages on the basis of their features).

It supports the following programming paradigms:

  • Procedural programming: It is based on the pattern or procedures that consist of any series of computational steps. Its main objective is to focus on the program's goal, then identify the problems and break them into smaller and more manageable components (called modules) in order to solve the main goal. In this, the program is planned out in a storyboard style.
  • Object-oriented programming: It is based on the concept of object and class. In simple words, objects and classes are the sets of data that contains fields, variable data types, etc., in the form of code. Object-oriented programming initiates with planning and diagramming the program. Then objects and classes are constructed, functions are built and data fields are placed, beginning to take the development environment.
  • Functional programming: In functional programming, developers try to bind everything in pure mathematical computational style. It involves the evaluation of complex expressions. In this, programmers mainly focus on the desired result, not on how to solve or compute it.

It is an undeniable fact that one programming paradigm cannot solve all problems efficiently. The support of these multi programming paradigms (procedural, object-oriented and functional programming) makes Python a popular programming language among enterprises. It also features automatic memory management that makes it even more powerful than other programming languages in the market.

3) Compatible with Major Platforms and Systems

Python supports all the major operating systems and architectures. Let’s have a look:

With this support of operating systems and architectures, Python code can be run on any of these platforms. Being an interpreted programming language, Python’s code is executed line-by-line directly without a prerequisite to compile the human-written code into machine instructions first. This is in contrast with compiled programming languages, such as C, C++, Java, etc. Compiled programming languages are those in which a compiler converts the human-written code into machine instructions all at once, instead of line-by-line and then the execution of code takes place.

Being an interpreted language, Python offers the following benefits over compiled programming languages such as C, C++, Java, etc:

  • It is easier to run the same Python program on multiple platforms, including Windows, Linux, macOS, etc. You just need to make sure that Python is installed on the computer where you are running the code. Whereas in compiled programming languages such as C, C++, and Java, we cannot copy the compiled program from the Linux computer to the Windows computer and expect the program to run successfully. Unlike interpreted languages (like Python), in compiled programming languages, we need to recompile the program again on the Windows computer in order to run the same program successfully on a different operating system.
  • Since Python code is executed line-by-line, instead of all at once, it is easy to make alterations in the code and run the modified code and see the impact of changes immediately in the result. This makes Python suitable for ad-hoc requests without increasing the development time. Whereas, with compiled programming languages, making changes is not as easy as in Python. You need to recompile and redeploy the program after making changes.

4. Large standard library

Python has a robust and large standard library that makes it stand out from other programming languages. Its standard library contains a wide range of modules, operations and web service tools that you can select and use for your applications without writing additional code.
Benefits Python offers with its huge standard library:

  • The standard library provides low-level details to developers, therefore, developers can focus on the logic of the application rather than looking for low-level details for the apps.
  • Since most developers are familiar with the standard library,the code provided by Python’s standard library is more maintainable and can easily be reused across the projects. This enables the new developers joining the organization to easily understand the on-going projects, shortening their learning curve.
  • Python’s standard library is well-optimized and tested, proving you the reliable and effective code for your application.

5. Cost-effective approach

Python is an open-source programming language, meaning no licensing fees are required to use it. This makes Python the most reasonable and affordable choice for enterprises.

It offers various open-source frameworks, development tools, and libraries that significantly reduce the development cost and development time.

Examples of open-source Python frameworks and toolkits:

6. Simplifies the complexities of software development

Python is designed to build a wide variety of application domains, including web-based applications, desktop applications, complex scientific and numeric applications and more. It is built with features to facilitate data visualization (generating graphical representation of data to perform data analytics) and data analysis (the process of analysis, cleansing, sorting and modeling data to extract meaningful insights). It provides various APIs and data visualization libraries that enable engineers to represent data in a more effective and appealing way. This is why many Business Intelligence (BI) and data science tools use Python as their programming language. It can be used to create custom big data solutions without requiring you to invest extra effort and time. Python can also be used to carry out certain tasks related to other technologies as well, such as Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

7. Adoption of Test-Driven Development

Python supports the test-driven development approach. Before proceeding further, you should know what a test-driven approach means and how it is better from the traditional testing method:

What is a test-driven development (TDD) approach?

Test-driven development: from this term only it is clear that TDD lets you test drive your design and development of the application. It means building tests that will specify and validate what the code will do, what will be the next step, what the design is, etc.

TDD mainly involves the following phases:

  1. Write the test cases before the development phase (when developers start coding for an application).
  2. Write the code so that it can pass the test cases.
  3. If any error encountered in the code while testing, then make modifications to the code.
  4. Run the code again to pass the test cases.
  5. If code passes the test cases, then stop; otherwise, repeat step 3.

How is TDD better than traditional testing methodology?

  • In the traditional testing method, test cases are developed and implemented after writing the code. This impacts the speed of product delivery. Whereas, in TDD, test cases are developed and implemented before writing the code. If the test case fails, then developers have to write or modify only that minimum amount of code to pass that test case. This, in turn, avoids the duplication of code, makes the code simpler, cleaner and bug-free.
  • Unlike a traditional testing method, TDD ensures 100% test coverage. No single line of code is left untested, delivering an accurate and error-free application.

Now, coming back to Python support for TDD, Python makes it easy for the development team to perform coding and testing simultaneously by adopting TDD methodology. It helps in shortening the development and testing cycle and reducing the time-to-market for your product.

Contact us if you need help building your application in Python. At Zibtek, our team of dedicated engineers can build a robust, flexible and scalable application using Python.

Python is a popular choice among programming languages due to its simplicity and readability, a large and active community, a wealth of libraries and frameworks, support for multiple programming paradigms, and its use in scientific computing and data analysis. These characteristics make Python easy to learn and use, and allow it to be applied to a wide range of projects.

Is Python used in industry?

Yes, Python is widely used in industry for a variety of tasks, including web development, data analytics, and Machine Learning. It is also used by companies such as Google, Netflix, and Instagram

How does Python compare to other programming languages?

Python is often compared to other high-level languages such as Swift, JavaScript, and C#. It is generally considered to be easier to learn and use than these languages, as it has a more concise syntax and a more intuitive object-oriented design. It is also dynamically typed, which means that you don't need to specify the data type of a variable when you declare it, which can make it easier to write code.

Partnering with a company that offers cost-effective Python development outsourcing can help you accelerate your project timeline. Let us know how we can assist!