Computer Science is everywhere. Computer Science is the study and practice of computation.
So what is this language that computers speak? It’s not English, or Spanish, or German. Why not?
The answer is that human languages contain all sorts of ambiguities, and computers need their instructions to be very precise.
For example, if the algorithm to send people to the moon said “launch the rocket with the humans inside,” how can we guarantee
that the computer doesn’t accidentally interpret that as a command to use the humans as fuel to launch the rocket? Computer languages
are designed to avoid problems like this.
Just like humans speak in many different languages; over the years, many different people have developed many different languages
designed for computers. Python is the language we will be learning in this class. As we will see in next chapter, Python has become a
very popular language because it is written to be simple both for you and the computer to understand.
What is Python?
A programming Language designed for Clarity and simplicity. In 1999, Guido Van Rossum, the founder of Python, wrote a paper called
"Computer Programming for Everybody" where he argued that computer programming had parallels to the dark ages, where only those with power,
wealth, or status could read and write. These elites argued that reading was too complicated for most people, and that only they were smart
enough to do so. In reality, reading and writing was a skill that anybody could pick up, if just given the opportunity. Similarly, Guido
argued that programming languages have long been kept inaccessible when they don’t have to be. So he wrote Python - a language challenging.
Guido was right.
Python is now the 3rd most popular programming language in the world
(there are hundreds of them)
Computers only understand 0s and 1s, their native machine language. All of the executable programs on your computer are a collection of these 0s and 1s that tell your computer exactly what to execute.
Whether you are an experienced programmer or not, this website is intended for everyone who wishes to learn the Python programming language. The single most important skill for a computer scientist is problem solving. Problem solving means the ability to formulate problems, think creatively about solutions, and express a solution clearly and accurately. As it turns out, the process of learning to program is an excellent opportunity to practice problem solving skills.
Python is a very simple language, and has a very straightforward syntax. It encourages programmers to program without boilerplate (prepared) code. The simplest directive in Python is the "print" directive - it simply prints out a line (and also includes a newline, unlike in C).