What is Python used for?
Python needs no introduction. As one of the most popular programming languages, Python has integrated itself into numerous industries. Many companies, big or small, build Python real-world projects that elevate workflow productivity, enhance program software, and update existing features.
Is Python still relevant?#
Python was first released in 1991 but underwent a major overhaul in 2008 with the release of Python 3.0. Although it was not backward compatible with Python 2.0, its use in web development, data science, automatic, etc., only grew.
Multiple features contribute to the success of Python real world projects, such as its simple syntax, readability, and accessibility. It is a programming language that anyone interested can pick up, regardless of whether they are a beginner or an advanced developer.
Learn Python 3 from Scratch
This course focuses exclusively on teaching Python to beginners and demystifies procedural programming, grounding every new concept in the hands-on project they gradually build with the course. You will begin by understanding built-in functions for input and output, and then move on to user-defined functions. Moreover, you will learn the basic data types and their application. Next, you will learn about the various structures of programs you can write: sequential, selective, and iterative; eventually, you will apply everything you’ve learned to complete an interesting project. More than anything else, this course aims to make you a lifelong learner, and intends to act as a great start to your wonderful career in the world of computing.
Python real-world projects#
Python is a constantly updated coding language with a large community of users who learn from each other. Here are various Python real-world applications and how this programming language is used across different organizations and industries.
Automation and scripting #
Python is widely used for automation and scripting because of its extensive library and tool ecosystem, making these repetitive jobs easier.
Automation | Scripting |
File and folder management: Tasks such as renaming, moving, copying, or deleting files and directories can be automated. | Command-line interfaces (CLI): Python libraries such as ‘argparse’, ‘click’, and ‘typer’can create powerful CLI tools. |
Web scraping: You can use Python to automate the data extraction from websites using libraries such as BeautifulSoup, Scrapy, or Selenium. | System administration: Python is used to write scripts for managing system resources, user management, network configuration settings, and system health monitoring. |
Data processing: Python can automate data transformation, cleaning, and aggregation tasks through the use of its pandas library | Text processing: Tasks involving text processing, such as searching, replacing, and formatting, can be automated using expressions or libraries such as ‘re’ and ‘textblob.’ |
Task scheduling: Automating routine tasks to run at specific intervals becomes easier; tools like ‘cron’ on Unix-based systems or ‘task scheduler’ on Windows can be paired with Python scripts. | Integration scripting: Integrating various software systems or platforms can be automated using Python. |
API interactions: Interactions with web services or RESTful APIs can be automated through libraries such as ‘requests.’ | Error handling: Efficient error handling can be incorporated using Python’s try–except block, which ensures that scripts can easily handle unexpected situations. |
Software deployment: Software deployment and server updates can be automated, and configurations are managed with tools such as Ansible or Fabric, which are scripted in Python. | Learning resources: The official Python documentation is great for learning about scripting. It is easy to follow for beginners and explains all the necessary concepts. |
Scientific computing#
Python is popular for scientific computing because of its flexibility and wide range of open-source scientific libraries, such as NumPy, SciPy, pandas, and Jupyter Notebooks.
Data analysis#
Python is commonly used to clean, analyze, and visualize data in various fields, such as finance, economics, biology, and more.
Numerical simulation #
Under numerical simulation, Python can be used to simulate physical systems; solving differential equations and modeling complex systems are two examples of this.
Machine learning and AI#
With the surge of AI and machine learning across multiple industries, Python’s popularity rose simultaneously. It is one of the leading programming languages used in machine learning and AI research and applications. Its powerful libraries, such as TensorFlow, scikit-learn, and Keras, provide essential data analysis and model creation tools.
Scientific research#
Researchers often use Python to conduct experiments, run simulations, analyze experimental data, and share reproducible research.
Web development#
Python’s simple syntax is a significant advantage for those working in web development, and there are multiple areas where it can be applied, such as:
Web frameworks #
Developers can utilize Python’s powerful web frameworks and build scalable, secure web applications more efficiently without wasting time on repetitive tasks. Django, Flask, and FastAPI have multiple useful features, such as ORM (object-relational mapping), admin interface, and more.
Template engines#
You can create dynamic HTML page generation through Python’s template engines, such as Jinja2, which is often used with Flask and allows embedding Python code into HTML, making rendering easy. Another option is Django’s template language, which helps separate backend logic from the front-end presentation.
Asynchronous programming#
The introduction of async/await in Python has allowed developers to use frameworks like FastAPI and Sanic to build non-blocking, asynchronous web applications that can efficiently handle many simultaneous requests.
Testing#
Thanks to its libraries, such as PyTest, UnitTest, and Selenium, Python has strong built-in support for testing web applications. These are used for end-to-end, unit, and integration testing and make Python extremely suitable for simple websites and complex, large-scale applications.
Django: Python Web Development Unleashed
Django is a free and open-source web application framework written in Python. It is used for rapid web development and clean, pragmatic design. It is built by experienced developers to make repetitive tasks easier, so you can focus on writing apps instead of reinventing the wheel. This course teaches Django for beginning and intermediate level learners. The course includes a hands-on learning experience with the help of interactive widgets. At the end of the course, you will have created a project in Django that can be used in your portfolio.
Embedded systems and IoT #
Python is increasingly used in embedded systems and the Internet of Things (IoT) because of its versatility.
Embedded systems#
Python is becoming adopted in embedded systems because of its ease of development and ability to abstract hardware details. It facilitates rapid development and testing, particularly in prototyping, and microcontroller-based systems have been optimized using libraries such as MicroPython and CircuitPython.
Moreover, Python can handle hardware interfacing and interact with components such as sensors, motors, and displays using libraries such as RPi.GPIO for Raspberry Pi or pySerial for serial communication.
Internet of Things (IoT) #
IoT is the interconnected network of sensors, actuators, and other smart devices. These components communicate and exchange data over the internet, and Python is integrated into IoT systems because of its high-level programming capabilities and ease of network communication integration.
Python is used in data collection from sensors, support for IoT communication protocols such as MQTT and HTTP, cloud integration, and edge computing.
Data science and analytics#
Data science and analytics overlap in features since they extract insights from data, but key differences set them apart. While data analytics involves creating insights from known data, data science deals with hypotheticals and predictions. Here are the key areas where Python is widely used:
Data manipulation and cleaning#
pandas is a powerful Python library used for data manipulation and analysis. It provides data structures like DataFrames, ideal for handling structured data like spreadsheets and CSV files. Moreover, NumPy is a Python library that supports multi-dimensional arrays, matrices, and mathematical functions that operate on these arrays.
Data visualization#
For data science and analytics, Python libraries such as Matplotlib, Seaborn, and Plotly are very useful for data visualization. They can generate static, animated, interactive plots and informative statistical graphics.
Statistical analysis#
Python’s SciPy can be utilized for scientific and technical computing because it builds on NumPy and allows various optimization, integration, interpolation, and statistics routines. In addition, Statsmodels is a Python library that is available specifically for statistical modeling and provides tools for performing linear and nonlinear regression and time-series analysis.
Machine learning and AI#
One of Python’s most prominent uses and integrations is in machine learning and AI. Its easy syntax facilitates developers’ writing and understanding of the code, allowing for rapid development and prototyping of AI/ML models.
Python’s large collection of powerful libraries is used for machine learning and AI algorithm implementation. These libraries allow Python to undertake numerical computations, array manipulation, data analysis, regression, clustering, and building powerful frameworks for building and deploying deep learning models.
Python also provides features that increase interactivity. Jupyter Notebook is widely used in the Python community, where developers can combine code, text, and visualizations in one place. This creates the ideal environment for iterative experimentation and debugging. Python also integrates well with other programming languages, such as Java and C++, making embedding ML/AI models into production easier.
A Practical Guide to Machine Learning with Python
This course teaches you how to code basic machine learning models. The content is designed for beginners with general knowledge of machine learning, including common algorithms such as linear regression, logistic regression, SVM, KNN, decision trees, and more. If you need a refresher, we have summarized key concepts from machine learning, and there are overviews of specific algorithms dispersed throughout the course.
Final words#
Python’s popularity as a coding language is predicted to increase as time goes by, and its uses in the industry will most likely increase because of its adaptable and flexible nature, along with its extensive tools and libraries.
Python continues to empower developers and businesses in all kinds of industries with its ability to solve complex problems efficiently. This makes learning Python a sought-after tool and a useful skill for many professionals. Investing time and energy into becoming an expert in the ins and outs of Python is sure to go a long way.
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