In Which Language Python Is Written?
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In which language python is written
To answer the question, In which language is Python written? The complete script of Python is written in the C Programming Language. When we write a Python program, the program is executed by the Python interpreter. This interpreter is written in the C language.
What Does it Mean that Python is Written in C?
The default implementation of the Python interpreter is done in C language. So, to answer the question "What does it mean that Python is written in C?", is that the interpretation of Python code is made in a C compiler. That's why Python is sometimes also referred to as CPython.
The Python interpreter can be divided into two major parts - a Python compiler and a Python Virtual Machine (PVM). Whenever we execute a Python program, the compiler translates the source code into bytecode (bytecode represents a series of different instructions). Since a CPU can not understand bytecode, this bytecode is converted into machine code using PVM.
Once the source code is converted to machine code, our program gets executed by the CPU. The Python interpreter does this whole process of converting source code into machine code, and this Python interpreter is written in the C programming language. So, we can say that the Python interpreter is written in the C programming language.
The implementation of Python code can also be done in other languages. Some of these implementations are Jython, PyPy, and IronPython. However, CPython is the most commonly used implementation of Python.
What are the Benefits of Python being Written in C?
It is worth mentioning that writing Python in C does not give any advantages (or disadvantages) to Python. Using C is just one of the ways to implement Python. When Python was released in 1991, C was a fast and widely used language. Therefore, it made sense back then to implement Python in C.
The biggest benefit of CPython is that it supports many libraries. Since CPython is the default implementation of Python (CPython is what we download from python.org), it is highly compatible with different Python modules and packages. Even though some other Python implementations (like PyPy) are much faster than the CPython we use, these implementations are not commonly used because they support only a few Python libraries.
Example
Apart from Python, many libraries in Python are also written in C. Some popular Python libraries in C are numpy, scipy, etc. Writing these libraries in C language gives them the advantage of being fast.
Writing these libraries in C helps us in using memory efficiently, and it even allows us to use multi-threading by getting rid of the Global Interpreter Lock (or GIL). Data structures like numpy arrays are widely used in Python to perform computationally expensive tasks because numpy arrays are much faster than Python lists.
Uses of Python
The wide variety of libraries in Python as you can learn in a Python tutorial, makes Python one of the most versatile programming languages. Following are the major applications of the Python programming language:
1. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Python is being used for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning purposes. Professionals and companies widely use python libraries like sklearn, pytorch, and tensorflow to develop ML and AI models. These libraries help developers to use ML and Deep Learning algorithms without the hassle of working on the math behind these algorithms.
2. Data Analysis
Python libraries like pandas, matplotlib, numpy, seaborn, etc. are pioneers in data analysis. These libraries help us read, manipulate, and display data using different graphs and charts. Performing statistical calculations, creating visualizations, and analyzing data become a lot easier with Python.
3. Web Development
The backend of websites or apps is often developed using Python's Django and Flask frameworks. The backend of popular sites like Instagram and Reddit is written in Python. Flask is usually used to develop lightweight and simple web applications, while Django is used to develop large web applications.
4. Automation
Python is also used to automate repetitive tasks. These tasks include checking errors in files, removing duplicates from data, scraping data from websites, etc. Even beginners can write automation scripts to automate tasks like sending emails, changing the location of files, etc.
5. Software Testing
Testing frameworks like pytest, green, requestium,, etc. are available in Python to test software. Python can help developers control the build, track bugs, and test the software. Software testing can even be done automatically whenever a new feature is added.
The Python Language: Features
The features of Python are what make it so popular. Let us look at the top features of Python:
- Beginner friendly: Python is one of the easiest languages to learn. It has a simple syntax and can easily understand a code's purpose by looking at it.
- Interpreted language: There is no need to compile a Python program. Because it is interpreted, the code gets executed line by line, making debugging our program easier.
- Huge standard library: By using the Python library, you can avoid writing redundant code that other programmers already write. For example, if you want to create a calculator, you can import the math library so that you would not need to write the code for calculating sum, square, factorial, etc.
- Dynamic memory allocation: We do not need to assign the data type to any variable. The data type of a variable is decided automatically at the run-time.
- Portable: The Python code written for a Linux machine works perfectly on a Windows or Mac machine. There is no need to make code changes to execute the program on different platforms.
- Object-oriented: Python supports the concept of classes, objects, inheritance, encapsulation, etc.
- High-level language: Since Python is a high-level language, it allows programmers to write and interpret code easily, debug programs easily, and write code without needing to manage memory.
- GUI programming: Python has libraries like tkinter, kivy,, etc., that can be used to develop apps with GUI (Graphical User Interface).
Python Compared to Other Languages
Although Python has a bunch of features, it does come with its fair share of flaws. The biggest flaw associated with Python is its slow speed (compared to other popular languages). Python is slow mainly because it is an interpreted language. So, Python requires more time to interpret and run the code.
Python also needs to manage its memory better because variables in Python are references to objects. Because every variable is an object in Python, there is a lot of overhead memory usage. So, in languages like C++, where an int takes 4 bytes, Python's int takes 24 bytes of memory. Python also has a garbage collector that uses additional memory and CPU usage. Therefore, it is not a recommended language for designing memory-intensive software because when we create a memory-intensive program, Python consumes a lot of memory for the reasons mentioned above.
Let us now compare Python to other languages to find out how good or bad Python is.
Python vs C++
| Criteria | Python | C++ |
|---|---|---|
| Syntax | Short and simple syntax | Syntax is more complicated compared to Python |
| Speed | Slower than C++ | Faster than Python |
| Garbage Collector | Python has a garbage collector | C++ does not have a garbage collector |
| Rapid Prototyping | Rapid prototyping is easier compared to C++ | Rapid prototyping is difficult compared to Python |
| Nature of Language | Dynamically typed language | Statically typed language |
Python vs Java
| Criteria | Python | Java |
|---|---|---|
| Syntax | Short and simple syntax | Complicated syntax |
| Speed | Slower than Java | Faster than Python |
| Nature of language | Dynamically typed language | Statically typed language |
| Database | Weak database support | Strong database support |
| Applications | Data analysis, backend development, and ML | GUI apps, embedded systems, and web services |
Python vs JavaScript
| Criteria | Python | JavaScript |
|---|---|---|
| Syntax | Short and simple syntax | Short and simple syntax |
| Code Execution | Python requires an interpreter to run | JavaScript runs directly on browsers |
| Server-side vs Client-side Scripting | Commonly used for server-side scripting | Commonly used for client-side scripting |
| Modules | Python supports a wide variety of modules | JavaScript has a limited number of modules compared to Python |
| Applications | Data analysis, backend development, and ML | Web development, mobile app development, and game development |
Conclusion
- The answer to the question "in which language python is written?" is - Python written in the C programming language. It means that the Python interpreter is written in C.
- CPython is that Python implementation that is done in the C language.
- CPython supports a wide range of libraries and modules.
- Some of the best features of Python are - simple syntax, a large standard library, and dynamically typed and object-oriented language.
- Python is majorly used for Data analysis, Machine learning, web development, automation, and software testing.
- Python is slower than languages like C++ and Java, but its syntax is much simpler, and rapid prototyping is possible in Python.
- Python has a garbage collector, while C++ does not. We can also do rapid prototyping in Python, while we can not do that in C++.
- Java has stronger database support and a complicated syntax compared to Python.
- Python requires an interpreter to run, while JavaScript can run directly on browsers.