What is Python?

Why this matters: If you are interested in AI, data science, automation or just getting code working quickly, Python is probably the most useful language you can learn first. It is the language Instagram, Spotify and Netflix were built on. It is the language behind almost every AI breakthrough of the last decade. And it is the easiest serious language to learn if you have never coded before.

The short version

Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language known for one thing above all: it reads almost like English. You can write working code on day one, even if you have never programmed before. That is rare, and it is the reason Python has quietly become the default language for AI, data science, automation and a huge chunk of modern web infrastructure.

A short history (with a name no one expects)

Python was created in 1989 by Guido van Rossum, a Dutch programmer working at the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) research institute in the Netherlands. The story goes that he started it as a Christmas project, looking for something to do during a quiet holiday week.

People assume Python is named after the snake. It is not. Guido was a big fan of the British comedy group Monty Python's Flying Circus. The name stuck, and to this day the official documentation is full of jokes about spam, parrots and dead languages.

For its first three decades, Python evolved under Guido's personal direction. The community called him the BDFL (Benevolent Dictator For Life). He stepped down from that role in 2018 and the language is now governed by a steering council of volunteers.

There is one famous bit of Python lore worth knowing about. Open a Python shell and type:

import this

You will see The Zen of Python: 19 short aphorisms about how Python code should be written. "Beautiful is better than ugly. Explicit is better than implicit. Simple is better than complex." Read it once. It is the closest thing programming has to poetry.

Why Python is everywhere today

A few honest reasons:

• It won AI and data science. When researchers and data scientists needed a language for numerical work, they reached for Python and built libraries like NumPy, pandas, scikit-learn, PyTorch and TensorFlow. Today almost every AI breakthrough you read about has Python code behind it.
• It is the most-readable serious language. Python forces indentation as part of the syntax, which sounds annoying but actually means Python code from different developers looks remarkably similar.
• The library ecosystem is enormous. Whatever you want to do, whether that is talking to a database, scraping a website, generating a PDF, controlling a Raspberry Pi or training a neural network, has a Python library for it.
• It is everywhere in industry. Instagram, Spotify, Netflix, Dropbox and Reddit all run substantial Python codebases. Google still uses it heavily.

A taste of Python

Here is a comparison that often surprises beginners. The same program in Java:

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

The same program in Python:

print("Hello, World!")

That difference scales. Most Python programs are three to five times shorter than the equivalent in Java or C++, which is a real reason it has won in spaces where time matters more than raw performance.

Where you see Python in South Africa

Python is heavily used in SA's data and analytics space:

• Banking and finance: Major SA banks (Standard Bank, Discovery, Capitec) use Python for data analysis, fraud detection and risk modelling
• Data science teams: Most data analyst and data scientist roles in SA list Python as a requirement
• AI and machine learning: Anyone doing serious ML work locally is using Python
• Automation: Operations teams use Python to glue together systems, automate reports and clean up data
• Web development: A smaller but solid presence with Django and Flask, especially at startups

Career prospects

Indicative monthly salaries for Python developers in South Africa:

• Entry-level: R20,000 to R30,000
• Mid-level: R40,000 to R60,000
• Senior: R65,000 to R110,000+
• Data scientist or ML engineer: R55,000 to R130,000+

Python combined with data skills is one of the most in-demand combinations in the SA market right now.

What you'll build in this course

By the end of Python Fundamentals you will be able to build:

• Command-line applications
• File and data processing tools
• A todo list application
• A student grade manager
• A simple web scraper

A note on style

Throughout this course we use South African examples where they fit naturally: Rand amounts, local business scenarios and names you will recognise.