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Why should I learn (+ use) Python?#

It's easy to use#

Use the power of the REPL and try away:

>>> print('Python is easy to learn')
Python is easy to learn

Get built-in help:

>>> help()

Welcome to Python 3.6's help utility!

If this is your first time using Python, you should definitely check out
the tutorial on the Internet at https://docs.python.org/3.6/tutorial/.

Enter the name of any module, keyword, or topic to get help on writing
Python programs and using Python modules.  To quit this help utility and
return to the interpreter, just type "quit".

To get a list of available modules, keywords, symbols, or topics, type
"modules", "keywords", "symbols", or "topics".  Each module also comes
with a one-line summary of what it does; to list the modules whose name
or summary contain a given string such as "spam", type "modules spam".

help>

Scale from simple, one-off scripts or even command line one-liners to world-class applications:

python -c 'import math; print(math.sqrt(2))'
1.4142135623730951

Amongst many others, Dropbox, Google, Instagram, Spotify and YouTube have been known to run parts of their stack with Python, sometimes primarily using Python.

Python also played an important role in getting the 1st ever black hole image in 2019 and NASA's 2021 Mars mission.

It has many applications#

Python is

  • useful in many domains, from simple scripts to building web applications to image processing, number crunching and data science (and many many more)
  • an excellent "glue language":
    • easy integration of C/C++ code (or Rust, Go, Fortran, ...)
  • a great rapid prototyping language:
    • succinct
    • no lengthy compilation
    • a lot of "batteries included": its extensive standard library provides a wide variety of tooling, out-of-the-box1
  • extensible, i.e. in the need for speed you can write performance critical code as e.g. a C extension (but more often than not Python is just fast enough, anyway)

It has excellent documentation & a great community#

Simply take at look at https://docs.python.org/ and https://www.python.org/community/.

The wider Python open source community delivers many world class 3rd party packages, usually available through the Python Package Index (PyPI).

It is widely used & usage is growing rapidly#

  • Currently the fastest growing / dominant language? Python
  • huge uptake since around 2012-2014 in the scientific community and data science:
    • machine learning
    • AI
    • statistical computing
  • known to e.g. replace R and Matlab applications due to being
    • user friendly and easy to learn,
    • more flexible, extensible & general-purpose (i.e. apart from the data science-specific necessities the huge Python ecosystem of standard library and 3rd party libraries is at your hands)
    • used by a large and growing community
  • as of 2025 is the primary language of choice in the AI and data science field

It is (arguably) the most readable programming language (for many)#

(Take this with more than a grain of salt - beauty is all in the eye of the beholder 😉)

Readability is key:

  • source code is read way more often than written (as in: reading other people's code for learning or review, reading your own code for refactoring/debugging/understanding what you did last month, ...)
  • Python is "executable pseudocode" (to some): 
    # pseudocode
x := 1
IF x > 0 THEN
    print "positive"
ELSE
    print "negative or 0"
END IF

# python
x = 1
if x > 0:
    print("positive")
else:
    print("negative or 0")
  • Python uses significant whitespace (indentation) for grouping code blocks (rather than {} braces), which makes it very readable for most people2

Some "Hello, world!" examples#

To each their own...

print("Hello, world!")

#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
    printf("Hello, world!\n");
    return 0;
}

#include <iostream>
int main(void)
{
    std::cout << "Hello, world!" << std::endl;
    return 0;
}

class Hello {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.print("Hello, world!");
    }
}

package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
    fmt.Println("Hello, world!")
}

fn main() {
  println!("Hello, world");
}

  1. This can be essential in e.g. restricted environments when you're not able to install additional packages. ↩

  2. Though there's die-hard non-believers that will always hate this 😉 ↩