According to several websites, Python is one of the most popular coding languages in 2015. Together with being a high level and general programming language, Python is also an object-oriented and open source. At the same time, a large number of developers around the world have used Python to create GUI applications, websites, and mobile apps. The differentiation factor that Python brings to the table is that it allows programmers to elaborate concepts by writing less and readable code. Developers can further utilize more Python frames to limit the time and effort required to build large and complex software applications.
The programming language is currently used by a number of high traffic websites, including Google, Yahoo Groups, Yahoo Maps, Linux Weekly News, Shopzilla, and Web Therapy. Similarly, Python also finds great use to create games, financial, scientific and educational applications. However, developers still use different versions of the programming language. According to the usage statistics and market share data for Python, published on W3techs, Python 2 currently uses 99.4% of the websites, while Python 3 is only used by 0.6% of websites. Therefore, it becomes important for each programmer to understand different versions of Python and its development for many years.
How has Python evolved over the years?
Although it was one of the most popular coding languages in 2015, Python was originally conceived by Guido van Rossum as a hobby project in December 1989. When Van Rossum’s office remained closed at Christmas, he sought a hobby project that would keep him busy of the holiday. He planned to create an interpreter for a new scripting language called the Python project. Python was originally designed as a successor to ABC programming language. After the interpreter, Van Rossum wrote the code publicly in February 1991. At present, the open source programming language is governed by the Python Software Foundation.
Version 1.0 of Python
Python 1.0 was released in January 1994. a release contained a number of new features and functional programming tools including lambda, filter, card and reduce. Version 1.4 was released with several new features like keyword arguments, built-in support for complex numbers and a basic form of data hiding. The major release was followed by two smaller releases, version 1.5 in December 1997 and version 1.6 in September 2000. Version 1 of Python lacked the features offered by popular programming languages of the time.
Version 2.0 of Python
In October 2000, Python 2.0 was released with the new list understanding function and a waste collection system. The syntax for the list understanding function was inspired by other functional programming languages like Haskell. But Python 2.0, unlike Haskell, gave preference to alphabetical keywords over punctuation marks. Also garbage collection system effected collection of reference bikes. The major release was followed by several smaller releases. These releases added a number of programming language functionalities to support embedded scopes and unification of Python classes and types in a single hierarchy. Python Software Foundation has already announced that there would be no Python 2.8. However, the Foundation will support version 2.7 of the programming language until 2020.
Version 3.0 of Python
Python 3.0 was released in December 2008. It came with a number of new features and improvements, along with a number of outdated features. The extracted features and backward compatibility make version 3 of Python completely different from previous versions. So many developers still use Python 2.6 or 2.7 to use the features that were printed from the last major release. But the new features of Python 3 made it more modern and popular. Many developers even switched to version 3.0 of the programming language to use these amazing features.
Python 3.0 replaced the print statement with the built-in print () function, while programmers use a custom separator between lines. Similarly, the rules for order comparison are simplified. If the operands are not organized in a natural and meaningful order, ordering operators can now create a TypeError exception. The programming language version 3 also uses text and data instead of the Unicode and 8-bit strings. While you treat all code as Unicode by default, it represents binary data encoded Unicode.
Because Python 3 is incompatible with each other, programmers cannot access features such as strict exceptions, old classes, and implicit relative import. Developers should also be aware of changes in syntax and APIs. They can use a tool called “2to3” to migrate their application from Python 2 to 3 evenly. The tool highlights incompatibility and areas of interest through comments and warnings. The comments help programmers to make changes to the code and upgrade their existing applications to the latest version of programming languages.
Latest versions of Python
Currently, programmers can choose either version 3.4. 3 or 2.7.10 of Python. Python 2.7 allows developers to use improved numerical management and improvements to the default library. This version also makes it easier for developers to transfer to Python 3. On the other hand, Python 3.4 comes with several new features and library modules, security enhancements and CPython implementation enhancements. However, a number of features are removed in both Python API and programming languages. Developers can still use Python 3.4 to use long-term support.
Version 4.0 of Python
Python 4.0 is expected to be available in 2023 after the release of Python 3.9. It will come with features that help programmers to switch from version 3 to 4 seamlessly. And as they gain experience, the experts can use Python developers to utilize a number of backward-compatible features to modernize their existing applications without adding extra time and effort. However, developers still have to wait a lot of years to get a clear picture of Python 4.0. But they must monitor the latest releases for easy transfer to version 4.0 of the popular coding language.
Version 2 and version 3 of Python are completely different from each other. So each programmer must understand the features of these different versions and compare their functionality based on the specific needs of the project. He will also check the version of Python, which each frame supports. However, every developer must utilize the latest version of Python to use new features and long-term support.
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