Module 1, Python Essentials

Monty Python

A British comedy group after which Python was named.

Instruction List (IL)

A complete set of known command.

Jython

A high-level, dynamic, and object-oriented language written with the Java platform.

High level programming language

A language that enables a programmer to write programs that are more or less independent of a particular type of computer. Such languages are closer to human languages and further from machine languages. Examples: Python, JavaScript, Java, FORTRAN

machine language

A language used by computers. It is made up of binary-coded instructions.

TIOBE Index

A list of the most popular programing languages based on search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Amazon, YouTube and Baidu.

Open Source

A program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design free of charge

source code

A program written in a high-level language.

Low level language use

A programming language use that allows direct control of the computer hardware. Used for drivers or graphical engine.

natural language

Any one of the languages that people speak that evolved naturally.

Cython "hybrid"

C (fast and complicated) + Python (slow, clean clear).

complied language

C++

interpreter

Converts a program written in a higher level language into a lower level language and executes it, beginning execution before converting the entire program.

Guido van Rossum

Creator of Python

T/F Python is a low-level programming language.

False

T/F Python is expensive but worth the upfront investment.

False

T/F Python is harder to use than many other high-level languages.

False

source file

File that contains source code written by the programmer.

PSF president

Guido von Rossum

PYPL

PopularitY of Programming Language Index is created by analyzing how often language tutorials are searched on Google.

C

Programming language used by Rossum to implement the first version of Python.

interpreted language

Python

Traditional version of Python

Python 2

Latest version of Python.

Python 3

PSF

Python Software Foundation

RPython

Restricted Python used to create PyPy source code.

CPython

The default and most widely used implementation of the Python language.

Cython

The main purpose of this language is to automatically translate the Python code into "C" code.

backwards compatible

The term given to software if it runs on older versions. (Python 3.4, 3.6 and 3.7 all run on Python 3)

Complier

Translating the source code into machine language

T/F Assembly language is a low-level language.

True

T/F Debugging Python's code can be more difficult than with other languages.

True

T/F Python is easier to understand.

True

T/F Python is easy to learn - Python has a short learning curve

True

PyPy

Used as a development tool to test new features before the feature is introduced to the mainstream Python users.

Python popularity

Very high - the most popular programming language in 2020.

low-level programming language

Written to correspond closely to a computer processor's circuitry, a programming language that a computer can interpret quickly but that bears little resemblance to human language.

alphabet

a set of symbols that can be combined to form words

Lexis

a set of words to a particular language

elements of language

alphabet, lexis, syntax, semantics

canonical

following or in agreement with accepted, traditional standards (used to refer to all versions of Python)

"I ate a doughnut" vs "a doughnut ate me"

semantics

instruction list/symbols

simplest and most primary set of symbols a computer can understand

compilation

source code is translated into machine code every time the code is modified. Once the code is finalized the translation is done once and the source code is packaged for distribution.

"I am a python" vs "I a python am"

syntax

Syntax

the rules for combining words into a valid sentence

Semantics

the set of rules determining if a phrase makes sense

interpretation

translates the source code each time it is executed, distribution of the source code must include the interpreter.