Thread by @AfroRoboticist

Why Python?

A thread as requested by @hackSultan

Will try to make this as unbiased as possible. 😁

👇🏾

Python is a high-level programming language whose structure mimics the way humans think.
It abstracts away low-level stuff like memory management, pointers etc.. which are the main stay of other languages like C++, Java

It is dynamically typed. Don’t be perturbed. Basically when u say a language is statically typed, it means you need to declare your variables upfront. You need to tell the compiler how much memory to set aside to handle a variable in advance.

Python doesn’t require U to state what a variable should contain. It figures it out on the fly. This gives you a lot of free will. eg
box = 1500
Python takes the value, decides what it is (in this case an int) and stores it as an int without you explicitly telling it to do so.

Very importantly, Python does not use a compiler. It uses what we call an interpreter. Interpreters and compilers are very similar in structure. The main difference is that an interpreter directly executes the instructions in the source programming language...

... while a compiler translates those instructions into efficient machine code.

Python is more concise than other programming languages and gets a lot more done with less code. This is made possible because of abstraction. Python abstracts a lot.

It handles a lot under the hood so you can focus on what really matters. It is comparatively easier to learn.
Python is generally slower than other programming languages in terms of execution. This is a trade-off for its ability to abstract. And this is only milliseconds.

As a newbie, u probably want to know what language to commence your forays into software development with right? Well... That's a decision you have to make for yourself. Every language has its niches in terms of strength. Here are a few of Python's strengths in a 'Career' sense.

I’ll break this up into 5 broad categories. This isn’t exhaustive by the way:

- Web development. Django and Flask frameworks are actually written in Python. They have both recently become very very popular. Stack says a lot of people are migrating to python...

... Not me, Stack overflow. Back-end development with python is a breeze. There aren’t nearly enough python developers out there to be honest. If you get a grip of python, you’re a unicorn. FACT! worthwhile.com/insights/2016/…

- DataScience: The world around us is literally run by data. Data has become a very valuable resource. If u control data and its access, u're powerful. Right now in the programming world, there aren’t many libraries as powerful as those written in python for data analysis...

... If data & its analysis are your thing, python is definitely your go-to language. Tensorflow, the most powerful #ML/#AI library developed by google was written in python. There you go...

...Think about all the buzz words in tech recently. Facial recognition, Voice recognition, Text to speech, object recognition, computer vision, Deep learning, Neural networks etc. All of these are deeply rooted in python. It's all python. datasciencegraduateprograms.com/python/

- Scripting. Python is an excellent scripting language. What’s scripting you asked? Well scripting is taking a process and automating it using bits of code. eg, automating sorting of emails maybe into work related categories. that's something that can be done with a script

- Embedded Programming: it basically talks about writing code for physical devices/hardware. Yes you’ve probably heard about the #Arduino & #RaspberryPi. These are SBCs(small board computers), the arduino is built to run with C++ as its base programming language...

..but the RaspPi runs on python. U can do so much more with the RaspberryPi though. This isn’t just as a result of it being run with python. it has a more robust design. Python has revolutionized what is possible with embedded development. IOT? Internet of things? Think Python.

- Robotics: 1stly hand on heart, I am biased in this regard. But well… I should be too. The field of robotics recently has quite literally blown up in our faces. This has been driven by SBCs becoming a lot more affordable. Lots of makers, such as myself have broken out..

..and work on our own little projects. A huge chunk of robotics projects are developed using python. Its human thinking-like layout makes it easier to use for projects in robotics. Loads of robotics libraries are written in python. The popular ROS platform runs on C++ and Python.

What you eventually decide in terms of your career as a young developer is entirely up to you. I always say, learn the basics in whatever language you decide to pick up. Imbibe those basics. They will be nearly all you need.

Here are some resources if you do decide to take the python deep dive:

Python for Beginners by Tutorials Point:
My python career took off here. I find it very useful
tutorialspoint.com/python/

Learn python org did a good job here:
learnpython.org

I really like this article on data science:
towardsdatascience.com/how-to-data-sc…

I started out on my Machine Learning journey with this video. Hopefully if it's your stir, you find it useful.

Starting out in embedded development?
Here's a quick link:
pythonprogramming.net/introduction-r…

YOU DO NOT NEED A CS DEGREE TO BECOME A SOFTWARE DEVELOPER!

Had to throw that in there. I am not a CS Grad. I have never formally been taught how to write code. The prerequisites to learning to develop in Python are......

Nothing! Literally. Just be interested.

Finally, this image gave me a few laughs so I decided to post it on here.

Here's wishing you a brave and fruitful journey into the world of software development.