What is Python Programming Language,Advantage And Disadvantage Of Python Programmming language And Its Application?

What is Python Programming Language?

The Python programming language is freely available and makes solving a computer problem almost as easy as writing out your thoughts about the solution. The code can be written once and run on almost any computer without needing to change the program. 

Advantage And Disadvantage Of Python Programming Language?

Advantages or Benefits of Python

The Python language has diversified application in the software development companies such as in gaming, web frameworks and applications, language development, prototyping, graphic design applications, etc. This provides the language a higher plethora over other programming languages used in the industry. Some of its advantages are-

• Extensive Support Libraries

It provides large standard libraries that include the areas like string operations, Internet, web service tools, operating system interfaces and protocols. Most of the highly used programming tasks are already scripted into it that limits the length of the codes to be written in Python.

• Integration Feature

Python integrates the Enterprise Application Integration that makes it easy to develop Web services by invoking COM or COBRA components. It has powerful control capabilities as it calls directly through C, C++ or Java via python. Python also processes XML and other markup languages as it can run on all modern operating systems through same byte code.

• Improved Programmer’s Productivity

The language has extensive support libraries and clean object-oriented designs that increase two to ten fold of programmer’s productivity while using the languages like Java, VB, Perl, C, C++ and C#.

• Productivity

With its strong process integration features, unit testing framework and enhanced control capabilities contribute towards the increased speed for most applications and productivity of applications. It is a great option for building scalable multi-protocol network applications.

Limitations or Disadvantages of Python

Python has varied advantageous features, and programmers prefer this language to other programming languages because it is easy to learn and code too. However, this language has still not made its place in some computing arenas that includes Enterprise Development Shops. Therefore, this language may not solve some of the enterprise solutions, and limitations include-

• Difficulty in Using Other Languages

The Python lovers become so accustomed to its features and its extensive libraries, so they face problem in learning or working on other programming languages. Python experts may see the declaring of cast “values” or variable “types”, syntactic requirements of adding curly braces or semi colons as an onerous task.

• Weak in Mobile Computing

Python has made its presence on many desktop and server platforms, but it is seen as a weak language for mobile computing. This is the reason very few mobile applications are built in it like Carbonnelle.

• Gets Slow in Speed

Python executes with the help of an interpreter instead of the compiler, which causes it to slow down because compilation and execution help it to work normally. On the other hand, it can be seen that it is fast for many web applications too.

• Run-time Errors

The Python language is dynamically typed so it has many design restrictions that are reported by some Python developers. It is even seen that it requires more testing time, and the errors show up when the applications are finally run.

• Underdeveloped Database Access Layers

As compared to the popular technologies like JDBC and ODBC, the Python’s database access layer is found to be bit underdeveloped and primitive. However, it cannot be applied in the enterprises that need smooth interaction of complex legacy data.

Applications Of Python Programming Language?

• Corel: PaintShop Pro is a product that many people have used over the years to grab screenshots, modify their pictures, draw new images, and perform a lot of other graphics-oriented tasks. The amazing thing about this product is that it relies heavily on Python scripting. In other words, to automate tasks in PaintShop Pro, you need to know Python.
• D-Link: Upgrading firmware over a network connection can be problematic, and D-Link was encountering a situation in which each upgrade was tying up a machine — a poor use of resources. In addition, some upgrades required additional work because of problems with the target device. Using Python to create a multithreaded application to drive updates to the devices allows one machine to service multiple devices, and a new methodology allowed by Python reduces the number of reboots to just one after that new firmware is installed. D-Link chose Python over other languages, such as Java, because it provides an easier-to-use serial communication code.
• Eve-Online: Games are a major business because so many people enjoy playing them. Eve-Online is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) that relies heavily on Python for both the client and server ends of the game. It actually relies on a Python variant named StacklessPython, which is important because you encounter these variants all the time when working with Python. Think of them as Python on steroids. These variants have all the advantages of Python, plus a few extra perks. The thing to take away from this particular company is that running an MMORPG takes major horsepower, and the company wouldn’t have chosen Python unless it were actually up to the task.
• ForecastWatch.com: If you have ever wondered whether someone reviews the performance of your weatherman, look no further than ForecastWatch.com. This company compares the forecasts produced by thousands of weather forecasters each day against actual climatological data to determine their accuracy. The resulting reports are used to help improve weather forecasts. In this case, the software used to make the comparisons is written in pure Python because it comes with standard libraries useful in collecting, parsing, and storing data from online sources. In addition, Python’s enhanced multithreading capabilities makes it possible to collect the forecasts from around 5,000 online sources each day. Most important of all, the code is much smaller than would have been needed by other languages such as Java or PHP.
• Frequentis: The next time you fly somewhere, you might be relying on Python to get you to the ground safely again. It turns out that Frequentis is the originator of TAPTools, a software product that is used for air traffic control in many airports. This particular tool provides updates on the weather and runway conditions to air traffic controllers.
• Honeywell: Documenting large systems is expensive and error prone. Honeywell uses Python to perform automated testing of applications, but it also uses Python to control a cooperative environment between applications used to generate documentation for the applications. The result is that Python helps generate the reports that form the documentation for the setup.
• HP: Finding what you need on a corporate network is difficult. Most organizations implement a custom search application or use off-the-shelf software to ensure that employees can find the information they need quickly. In this case, the search software began life as Infoseek, changed names to Verity Ultraseek, and is finally known today as HP Autonomy. The use of Python makes it easy to modify the search engine to meet specific needs. In addition, Python provides smoother multithreaded operation than some other languages, such as Java, do.
• Industrial Light & Magic: In this case, you find Python used in the production process for scripting complex, computer graphic-intensive films. Originally, Industrial Light & Magic relied on Unix shell scripting, but it was found that this solution just couldn’t do the job. Python was compared to other languages, such as Tcl and Perl, and chosen because it’s an easier-to-learn language that the organization can implement incrementally. In addition, Python can be embedded within a larger software system as a scripting language, even if the system is written in a language such as C/C++. It turns out that Python can successfully interact with these other languages in situations in which some languages can’t.
• Philips: Automation is essential in the semiconductor industry, so imagine trying to coordinate the effort of thousands of robots. After a number of solutions, Philips decided to go with Python for the sequencing language (the language that tells what steps each robot should take). The low-level code is written in C++, which is another reason to use Python, because Python works well with C++.
• United Space Alliance: This company provides major support to NASA for various projects, such as the space shuttle. One of its projects is to create Workflow Automation System (WAS), an application designed to manage NASA and other third-party projects. The setup uses a central Oracle database as a repository for information. Python was chosen over languages such as Java and C++ because it provides dynamic typing and pseudo-code–like syntax and it has an interpreter. The result is that the application is developed faster, and unit testing each piece is easier.