10 Questions
What philosophy does Python's design emphasize?
Code readability
What type of programming language is Python?
Dynamically typed
Who began working on Python in the late 1980s?
Guido van Rossum
What is Python often described as due to its comprehensive standard library?
A 'batteries included' language
What is the title that the Python community bestowed upon Guido van Rossum?
Benevolent dictator for life
What is the primary purpose of the 2to3 utility in Python 3 releases?
To automate the translation of Python 2 code to Python 3
What is the current status of Python 2.7?
It is officially unsupported and will not receive any further updates
What is the significance of the plus sign in PyPy's Python 2 support, e.g. '2.7.18+'?
It indicates the version includes backported security updates
What was the reason for the expedited security updates in 2021 and 2022?
A large number of security issues were discovered in all Python versions
What is the current stable release of Python as of October 2023?
Python 3.12
Study Notes
General Properties of Python
- Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language.
- It emphasizes code readability with significant indentation.
- Python is dynamically typed and garbage-collected.
- It supports multiple programming paradigms, including structured, object-oriented, and functional programming.
History of Python
- Python was invented in the late 1980s by Guido van Rossum as a successor to the ABC programming language.
- The implementation of Python began in December 1989.
- Guido van Rossum was the lead developer and "benevolent dictator for life" until 2018.
- In 2019, a five-member Steering Council was elected to lead the project.
Releases of Python
- Python 2.0 was released in 2000 with major new features like list comprehensions, cycle-detecting garbage collection, reference counting, and Unicode support.
- Python 3.0 was released in 2008 with many major features backported to Python 2.6.x and 2.7.x.
- 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 3.11 and 3.12 are the only versions with active support as of October 2023.
Notable Changes in Recent Releases
- Python 3.11 increased program execution speed and improved error reporting.
- Python 3.12 adds syntax to the language, including the new (soft) keyword type.
- Python 3.10 added a new type union operator and improved exception handling.
- Python 3.10 and 3.11 added support for exception handling and the match and case statements.
A comprehensive overview of the Python programming language, its features, and design philosophy.
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