The Python programming language was created by Guido van Rossum and was first released in the early 1990s. The name “Python” comes from the 1970s British comedy sketch television show called Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
Python features a simple syntax, making programs clear and easy to read. Despite its simplicity, Python provides powerful programming features and is widely used. Companies and organizations that use Python include YouTube, Google, Yahoo, and NASA. Python is well supported and is freely available at www.python.org.
The IDLE Python Development Environment
IDLE is an integrated
development environment (IDE) that provides a bundled set of
software tools for program development. These tools include:
- An editor for creating and modifying programs.
- A translator for executing programs.
- A debugger to control the execution of a program to find errors.
Python is
most commonly translated using an interpreter, which
provides the very useful ability to execute code in interactive
mode. The window that provides this interaction is referred to as
the Python shell.
Although working in the Python shell is convenient, the entered code is not saved. Therefore, for program development, Python provides a means of entering, editing, and saving programs using the program editor in IDLE.