Python African Tour (PAT) Tutor¶

Why Python¶

Easy to learn and be productive.

Compact language with very good design.

Produce beutiful code by enforcing indentation.

Clean code makes maintenance and debugging easier and less annoying. Simple syntax.

Less is more.

Write less code to achieve more functionality. There is usually one good way of doing something.

General-purpose language.

Can be used for Web development, Desktop (GUI), mobile development, Scientific calculations and as a scripting language.

New kid on the block.

All the cool kids are using it, Eg Google, NASA, Yahoo, Instagram. [2]

Dynamically type language.

Use variables on the fly without declaring first

Why not Python¶

Enforced indentation can be annoying.

Most programming languages like Java, Ruby have no restrictions on indentation. In python, you get a syntax error if you do not indent properly

Not supported by common hosting platforms.

Deployment on external servers, mostly for web applications.

Interpreted language. This may be slower than compiled languages.

Dynamically typed language.

Can make execution slower especially on devices with limited processing power. Eg: Mobile Undeclared variables are caught at runtime errors.

Building the docs¶

The documentation is hosted online. If you want to build it, you will need the following:

1. Python
2. Sphinx
3. Pip (Optional)

Tools needed¶

These are the tools needed to follow the examples in the tutorials.

Required

• Name: Python

  Version: 2.7

  URL: http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.7.5/

  Purpose: Programming Language
• Name: Git

  Version: 1.8.3.4

  URL: http://git-scm.com/

  Purpose: Source Control

Optional

• Name: Notepad ++

  Version: 6.4.4

  URL: http://notepad-plus-plus.org/

  Purpose: Editor