Getting Started with Python

Python was developed in February 1991.

Guido Van Rossum is the developer of Python. ABC language and Modula-3 contributed to Python as a programming language.

A cross-platform software is a software that can run well on a variety of platforms like Windows, Linux/Unix, Macintosh, etc.

Advantages of Python programming language are:

1. Easy to Use — Python is compact, programmer-friendly and very easy to use object oriented language with very simple syntax rules.
2. Expressive Language — Python is an expressive language, it takes fewer lines of codes to represent the same syntax.
3. Interpreted Language — Python is an interpreted language, not a compiled language. It makes Python an easy-to-debug language and thus suitable for beginners to advanced users.
4. Completeness — Python has a rich standard library that provides modules for most types of required functionality like emails, web-pages, databases, GUI development, network connections, etc.
5. Cross-platform Language — Python can run equally well on variety of platforms — Windows, Linux/UNIX, Macintosh, supercomputers, smart phones, etc.
6. Free and Open Source — Python language is freely available along with its source-code.
7. Variety of Usage/Applications — Python has evolved into a powerful, complete and useful language over these years. These days Python is being used in many diverse fields/applications, some of which are Scripting, Web Applications, Game development, Database Applications, System Administrations, Rapid Prototyping, GUI Programs.

Some limitations of Python programming language are:

1. Not the Fastest Language — As Python is an interpreted language so its execution-times are not that fast compared to some compiled languages.
2. Lesser Libraries than C, Java, Perl — Library collection of C, Java, Perl is better than Python.
3. Not strong on Type-Binding — Python interpreter is not very strong on catching 'Type-Mismatch' issues.
4. Not easily convertible — Translating Python programs to other languages is difficult due to its lack of syntax.

We can work in Python in two ways:

1. Interactive mode (also called Immediate mode)
2. Script mode

Interactive mode is useful for testing code. We can type the commands one by one and get the result of error immediately for each command. Disadvantages of Interactive mode are that it does not save commands in form of a program and also output is sandwiched between commands.

Script mode is useful for creating programs and then run the programs later and get the complete output. It is not suitable for testing code.

Interactive Mode

>>> print("Math is Fun so don't be resistant")
Math is Fun so don't be resistant
>>> print("Just learn the rules, the rules are consistent")
Just learn the rules, the rules are consistent
>>> print("And most important, you must be persistent !")
And most important, you must be persistent !
>>> print("")

>>> print("Adding fractions, get common denominators.")
Adding fractions, get common denominators.
>>> print("Multiply by missing factors to get the denominators.")
Multiply by missing factors to get the denominators.
>>> print("Add numerators only, NOT denominators.")
Add numerators only, NOT denominators.
>>>

Script Mode

Solution

print("Math is Fun so don't be resistant")
print("Just learn the rules, the rules are consistent")
print("And most important, you must be persistent !")
print("")
print("Adding fractions, get common denominators.")
print("Multiply by missing factors to get the denominators.")
print("Add numerators only, NOT denominators.")

Output

Math is Fun so don't be resistant
Just learn the rules, the rules are consistent
And most important, you must be persistent !

Adding fractions, get common denominators.
Multiply by missing factors to get the denominators.
Add numerators only, NOT denominators.