10 Exciting Things About Python Every Developer Should Know

Python has taken the programming world by storm. It‘s the fastest-growing and most popular language according to the 2023 Stack Overflow Developer Survey. Over 60% of developers are using Python currently and 20% want to learn it next.

So what makes Python so exciting and attractive to learn? As an AI and machine learning expert, I‘ve used Python extensively and have fallen in love with the language. Here are 10 things that I think make Python a must-learn language for any developer.

1. Python Has a Fascinating History

Python was born out of a hobby project by Dutch programmer Guido van Rossum way back in 1989. As a fan of the Monty Python comedy troupe, he named the language after them, leading to lots of Monty Python references in Python‘s culture and documentation.

Some key milestones in Python‘s 30+ year history:

Version	Year	Major Features and Changes
0.9.0	1991	First release, classes, exception handling, functions, core data types
1.0	1994	Lambda, map, filter, reduce
2.0	2000	Full garbage collection, Unicode support
3.0	2008	Print is now a function, more Unicode support
3.6	2016	f-strings, syntax for variable annotations
3.7	2018	Dataclasses, postponed evaluation of annotations
3.8	2019	Assignment expressions (walrus operator), positional-only parameters
3.9	2020	Dictionary union operators, removeprefix()/removesuffix()
3.10	2021	Structural pattern matching, type union operator
3.11	2022	Better error messages, exception groups, task and exception groups

Source: Python Release Notes

As you can see, Python has steadily evolved over the decades with useful new features, syntactic sugar, and optimizations added in each version while maintaining backwards compatibility. Python‘s creator Guido van Rossum served as its Benevolent Dictator For Life (BDFL) until 2018, when he stepped down and Python adopted a new governance model led by a 5-person steering council.

2. Zen of Python: A Philosophy of Clean Code

One thing that sets Python apart from many other languages is its emphasis on readability and simplicity. This design philosophy is laid out in the Zen of Python, 19 guiding principles written by longtime Python developer Tim Peters in 1999. The Zen of Python espouses aphorisms like:

• Beautiful is better than ugly.
• Explicit is better than implicit.
• Simple is better than complex.
• Readability counts.

You can see these principles exemplified in Python‘s clean syntax. Let‘s compare Hello World in Python vs Java:

Python:

print("Hello World!")

Java:

public class HelloWorld {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello World!");
    }
}

Python‘s version is a single line of code, while Java‘s is 5 lines of boilerplate. This simplicity makes Python very easy to learn for beginners. Guido van Rossum has said:

"Code is read much more often than it is written, so plan accordingly."

3. Python Has a Playful Side

Programming in Python is fun! The language doesn‘t take itself too seriously and has a playful culture.

For example, Python comes with a collection of easter eggs and jokes, like:

• The Zen of Python is included as an easter egg. Just try importing the "this" module:

import this

• Python has a built-in antigravity module! Try running:

import antigravity

It opens up a comic about Python and antigravity in your web browser.

Even some of Python‘s syntax has a sense of whimsy. The "walrus operator" := added in Python 3.8 is named after its resemblance to a walrus‘ tusks and eyes.

4. Python Has Awesome Language Features

Python‘s simple syntax belies its power and expressiveness as a language. Let‘s look at some of my favorite Python features:

• Dynamic typing: Python is dynamically and strongly typed, so you don‘t have to declare variable types
• Iterators: Python has built-in iterator objects that support lazy evaluation, making it easy to write memory-efficient code
• Generators: Generator functions/expressions let you easily create custom iterators
• Decorators: Decorators are callable objects that modify functions using a simple syntax. Great for reusing code!
• Context managers: Context managers are objects that define setup/teardown actions that occur when entering/exiting a block of code

Python also has a bunch of handy syntax, like:

• Multi-line strings delimited with triple quotes
• Chained comparisons, e.g. 1 < x < 5
• Slice notation for sequences
• Negative indexing
• Iterable unpacking, like first, second, *rest = items
• Named tuples and dataclasses for more readable code

Python gives you a lot of expressive power out of the box, but also lets you customize things to your exact needs.

5. Extensive Standard Library

One of Python‘s biggest strengths is its "batteries included" philosophy. Its standard library has 300+ modules that let you do all kinds of useful things without installing any extra dependencies:

• Data structures like queues, heaps, lists, tuples
• Networking modules for creating servers and clients
• File and directory handling modules
• Parsing JSON, CSV, XML, and more
• Generating documentation
• Unit testing tools
• Manipulating images
• Cryptography and security
• And much more!

Having such a comprehensive standard library is a huge time saver. You can efficiently tackle all sorts of tasks using just plain Python.

6. Incredible Data Science & ML Libraries

What really accelerated Python‘s popularity over the last decade has been its rise as the lingua franca of data science, machine learning, and AI. There‘s an impressive array of powerful libraries for numerical computing, data processing, visualization, and ML:

• NumPy: The fundamental package for scientific computing. Provides a powerful N-dimensional array object and math functions.
• Pandas: Data analysis library providing high-performance, easy-to-use data structures and tools for working with structured data.
• Matplotlib: The grand old man of Python data visualization, used for creating static, animated, and interactive visualizations.
• Seaborn: Statistical data visualization library based on Matplotlib that provides a high-level interface for drawing informative and attractive statistical graphics.
• SciPy: Ecosystem of libraries for mathematics, science, and engineering, including statistics, signal processing, image processing, and more.
• Scikit-learn: The gold standard Python library for machine learning, with tools for classification, regression, clustering, dimensionality reduction, and model evaluation.
• TensorFlow, PyTorch, Keras: The leading deep learning frameworks for training and deploying neural networks.

Here‘s a graph showing some of the most downloaded Python data science libraries from PyPI in 2022:

Source: PePy

These libraries have powered groundbreaking AI like OpenAI‘s ChatGPT and Google‘s AlphaFold, and are used daily by data scientists around the world to derive insights from big data.

7. Wide Range of Uses

Python isn‘t just for data science. It‘s a general-purpose language used for all kinds of applications:

• Backend web development: Frameworks like Django, Flask, FastAPI power the backends of sites like Instagram, Spotify, Netflix
• Automation: Python is great for writing system administration scripts, test automation, build tools
• Game development: Pygame and Pyglet are Python game engines
• Education: Python is widely taught in introductory computer science courses due to its accessibility
• Scientific research: Python is used heavily in fields like bioinformatics, physics, astronomy for data analysis and simulations
• Finance: Python is used for quantitative finance, algorithmic trading, risk management

According to JetBrains‘ 2020 Python survey, web development and data analysis are the most common domains Python developers work in:

Source: JetBrains Python Developer Survey 2020

Whatever kind of software you want to build, chances are Python has the tools for the job.

8. Vibrant Community & Ecosystem

Python‘s greatest strength is its vast community and ecosystem. There are over 400,000 open source packages on the Python Package Index, 1.7 million questions tagged Python on Stack Overflow, dozens of Python conferences around the world, and countless online tutorials and courses.

Some of my favorite Python community resources:

• Real Python Tutorials
• Awesome Python
• PyCon Conferences
• Talk Python To Me Podcast
• r/Python Subreddit

The Python community is very beginner-friendly and welcoming. There‘s always someone ready to help you out if you get stuck on a problem.

Many tech giants use Python heavily and have released a lot of their projects as open source Python libraries. For example:

• Google: TensorFlow, Jax, Pytype
• Facebook: PyTorch, Prophet
• Netflix: Metaflow, Polynote
• Uber: Pyro, Ludwig
• Microsoft: Infer.NET, NimbusML

Thanks to Python‘s open source community, new libraries and tools are being released all the time that expand what‘s possible with the language.

9. Huge Demand for Python Skills

All these qualities have made Python one of the most sought-after skills in the job market. According to the 2022 CodinGame Develper Survey, Python is the #1 most-wanted language by recruiters:

Source: [CodinGame Developer Survey 2022 (https://www.codingame.com/work/codingame-developer-survey-2022/)

Python also tops the charts for the most in-demand skills on job sites like Indeed:

Source: Most Popular Programming Languages to Learn in 2023

If you‘re looking to upgrade your programming skillset or make yourself more marketable to employers, learning Python is a great investment.

10. Python is Here to Stay

With its 30+ year history, Python has stood the test of time and its popularity keeps growing. It recently overtook Java to take the #1 spot on the TIOBE Index.

Some of the world‘s biggest tech companies like Google and Meta use Python extensively. It powers critical infrastructure and widely used ML models. NASA even used Python to deploy the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars!

The Python Software Foundation, the non-profit that oversees Python development, recently announced that Python 3.7 will be supported until at least 2023 to ensure backwards compatibility. And new versions of Python keep adding useful features to make the language more powerful and ergonomic to use.

In fact, Python is expected to keep growing faster than other major programming languages:

Source: The Economist

Thanks to its versatility, active community, and wide adoption, Python has a very bright future ahead of it. There‘s never been a better time to add Python to your toolbelt as a developer.

Ready to Learn Python?

We‘ve only scratched the surface of what makes Python such an exciting and rewarding language to learn. Its simple syntax, expressive features, and extensive ecosystem open up a world of possibilities limited only by your creativity.

As the famous computer scientist Edsger W. Dijkstra said:

"The tools we use have a profound and devious influence on our thinking habits, and therefore on our thinking abilities."

By learning Python, you‘ll gain a powerful tool for solving problems and bringing your ideas to life through code. And you‘ll be joining a community of millions of Pythonistas around the world who use the language every day to build amazing things.

So what are you waiting for? Download Python, fire up a tutorial, and happy coding!