Chapter 1. Understanding Python

Python is an extremely powerful and dynamic object-oriented programming language. It has similarities to scripting languages such as Perl, Scheme, and TCL, as well as other languages such as Java and C.

This chapter is designed to give you a quick glimpse into the Python language to help you understand the phrases in the subsequent chapters. It is not meant to be comprehensive; however, it should give you a feel for the language and help you understand the basics so that you can refer to the Python documentation for more information.

Why Use Python?

There are several reasons to use Python. It is one of the easier languages to pick up and start using, and yet it can be extremely powerful for larger applications. The ...

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