The Python Programming Language

This course will teach you how to code with the Python Programming Language, but more than that, we will also explore the process of learning to think like a computer scientist. Ultimately, in addition to the knowledge and skills of the computer scientist, the main characteristic is the skill of problem solving.

Python is an example of a high-level language. Others of this type are the well-known C, C++, Perl, and Java. In addition to these ‘high-level languages’, we also have low-level languages which are also referred to as machine languages or assembly languages. Computers can only use and run programs written in the machine language, meaning that a high-level language has to be processed before it can be run, which takes a small amount of time.

Yet that slight disadvantage of extra processing is vastly outweighed by the advantages of writing in a high-level language. People are not computers. While a computer can easily read a huge number of bits of information (like the ones and zeroes of binary code) immediately turning them into letters, numbers, and symbols, this would take a human significant time to do.

It is easier to write in a high-level language, and faster too. The programs written in these languages are shorter, and easier to read (for a human). They are also more likely to be correct, because there is less room for error in the statements and syntax. High-level languages are also more portable. They can run on different computers with little to no modification, while a low-level program can only be run on one kind of computer and have to be rewritten to run on another.

These advantages are significant enough that virtually all programs are written in high-level languages, and low-level languages are reserved for specific specialized applications.

Further Reading

The Way of the Program. Allen B. Downey. <https://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/html/thinkpython002.html>.