The Fast Track

Python supports control flow, functions, exception handling, object-oriented programming, and more, much like Java, Visual Basic, Perl, Delphi, and C++, among others. In syntax, Python is a lot like C, whose syntax is the basis of that used in Java, JavaScript, and C++.

Types

Python is a dynamically typed language, similar to Smalltalk. When you assign a variable a value, that value specifies the type. There are many built-in types in Python, but, unlike in Java, no primitive types. Functions, methods, classes, code blocks, namespaces, numbers, strings, and so forth, are all treated as objects that can be manipulated.

If you're a Smalltalk fan, you'll like Python. Of all of the mainstream programming languages, Python has the closest ...

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