Introduction to Python Programming

10 Questions

What is a distinctive feature of Python's design philosophy?

The use of significant indentation

What is Python's approach to programming paradigms?

Python supports multiple programming paradigms

Who is credited with inventing Python?

Guido van Rossum

What was the name of the operating system that Python was originally designed to interface with?

Amoeba

What was the significance of Python 2.0 released in 2000?

It was a major revision with many new features

What is the primary purpose of the 2to3 utility included in Python 3 releases?

To automate the translation of Python 2 code to Python 3

What was the initial end-of-life date for Python 2.7?

2015

Which Python versions are currently supported as of 2023?

3.8 and later

What was the main reason for expediting security updates in 2021 and 2022?

Remote code execution and web-cache poisoning vulnerabilities

What was added to Python 3.11 to improve error handling?

Exception handling functionality

Study Notes

Introduction to Python

Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language.
It emphasizes code readability with the use of significant indentation.
Python is dynamically typed and garbage-collected.
It supports multiple programming paradigms, including structured, object-oriented, and functional programming.

History of Python

Guido van Rossum began working on Python in the late 1980s as a successor to the ABC programming language.
The first release of Python was version 0.9.0 in 1991.
Python 2.0 was released in 2000 with major new features such as list comprehensions and Unicode support.
Python 3.0 was released in 2008, with many of its major features backported to Python 2.6.x and 2.7.x.

Development and Releases

Guido van Rossum was the lead developer and "benevolent dictator for life" (BDFL) until 2018.
A five-member Steering Council was elected in 2019 to lead the project.
Python 2.7's end-of-life was initially set for 2015, then postponed to 2020.
Only Python 3.8 and later are supported as of 2023.
Python 3.9 and 3.10 received security updates in 2022.
Python 3.10.4, 3.9.12, and 3.8.13 were expedited in 2022 due to security issues.
Python 3.11 and 3.12 are the only versions with active support as of October 2023.

Features and Updates

Python 3.10 added the | union type operator and the match and case keywords for structural pattern matching statements.
Python 3.11 expanded exception handling functionality.
Python 3.12 added the new keyword type.
Every Python release since 3.5 has added some syntax to the language.