1 Improving your Python with practice
Python is hotter than ever: Companies are adopting it. Universities are teaching it. Lots of people, looking to improve their job prospects, are learning it.
But Python isn’t new; it has been around for more than 30 years. So why is everyone suddenly hot on Python?
Because Python offers what educator Seymour Papert once described as "low floors and high ceilings." It’s relatively easy to learn, allowing almost anyone to get things done with a minimum of practice and training. But it’s also a serious language with impressive capabilities. Which means that the same language you use to teach intro programming classes in middle school is used in mission-critical applications for multibillion-dollar companies. Your bank is probably using Python, as are the servers powering numerous apps on your smartphone, as are the cloud servers for your favorite social-media and video sites.
For many years, people either learned to program in easy-to-learn, underpowered programming languages, like Basic or Scratch, or in hard-to-learn serious languages, such as C and Java. If you’re an experienced developer, then C and Java might not seem that overwhelming or difficult — but to someone new to the field, such languages have extremely steep learning curves.