Why is Python so popular?

The Python programming language, developed in the 1990s by Dutch programmer Guido van Rossum, enjoys widespread popularity. However, it did not always have this. Python’s popularity began to increase in 2012 and continued to rise from thereon. In this process, the rise of machine learning and artificial intelligence constitutes a key factor. Because programmers of machine learning and AI are busy with time-intensive complex data analysis and algorithm development, Python with its simple syntax that allows programmers to write code more easily and requires less debugging has become the number one programming language for machine learning and AI. But many other reasons make Python one of the most popular programming languages. This article will break down the 5 main factors for Python's popularity. 

What is Python?

Python is a high-level, interpreted, multi-purpose and multi-paradigm programming language. So, it can be used in both object-oriented and structured programming models and supports functional, aspect-oriented, logical, and other programming models due to its design of being highly extensible and compact at the same time. The language includes the standard basic data types, ranging from numbers to strings, as well as elements such as lists and dictionaries. Python also works on multiple platforms, including Mac OS X, Windows, GNU/Linux, and Unix. 

The 5 main Factors of Python’s Popularity

So what is it about Python that seems to capture the interest of developers, new and experienced alike? Here are 5 main factors that have helped make Python one of the world’s leading development languages.

1.  Python is easy to learn

Each programming language is unique: they have their own sets of rules, syntax, grammatical structures, vocabulary, etc. So learning a programming language can be compared to learning a foreign language. But Python differs here because it is similar to plain English using a simplified syntax with an emphasis on natural language. That makes Python much easier to learn for beginners. Btw, Python’s creator Guido van Rossum aimed to build a programming language to open the doors to computer programming for everybody. And in fact, nowadays many programmers enjoy Python's user-friendliness.

2.  Python is versatile

Python is a general-purpose programming language. This means Python may be used to develop a variety of applications in any industry or field and is not restricted to domain-specific application types. Python is mostly used in machine learning, data analytics and science, artificial intelligence, automation, and web development if combined with the framework django. 5 famous websites that use Python are youtube, instagram, spotify, dropbox and pinterest.

3. Python is the no. 1 in machine learning and data science

Python’s ease of use and associated lower debugging rate as well as its versatility have made it an essential tool for developers of machine learning, AI, cloud computing, and big data. The programming language is particularly effective for analyzing and organizing data sets due to its out-of-the-box data analysis capabilities.

4. Python is great at automation

Python possesses tools and modules to help automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks so that developers can focus on other important, but more difficult tasks such as algorithm development. Thus, Python has become an automation standard across industries and developers’ favorite programming language for automation scripting.

5. Python is efficient and reliable

Python excels in terms of time-to-market development. Though it is slower in run time compared to other programming languages, it allows developers to code powerful applications with a minimum of effort. This is what makes Python highly efficient and reliable. In fact, completing coding projects in Python is easy rather than time-consuming.

Summary

Python’s rise in popularity is due to several factors. Its high levels of simplicity, learnability, versatility, efficiency, reliability, and time saving have made it a preferred programming language for the development of sophisticated applications. This is especially useful and important in the areas of machine learning, AI, data science, and automation. But specifics aside, Python is so popular because it simplifies the lives of its users enabling them to code applications more easily.