Python in Education

Python Is Everywhere

A quick glance online suggests that Python is the 

language du jour

for teaching programming

. Yet Python is, and has been for a while,

one of the world’s 

most popular programming languages in industry

as well

. Every day, without realizing it, you probably use software

that is written using Python. Python is used by companies to write

all sorts of applications. Google, NASA, Bank of America, Disney,

CERN, YouTube, Mozilla, The Guardian—the list goes on of compa‐

nies and organizations of all sizes in all sectors of the economy that

use Python.

Why is Python so popular?

I aim to answer this question from an educational perspective. One

might distill the answer into the following points:

Resources

There are lots of resources for learners of all ages and levels.

These range from traditional textbooks to websites that offer

online self-paced courses in Python programming. With the

advent of the Raspberry Pi and OLPC projects, everyone can get

hold of affordable hardware that runs Python.

The Language’s Design

Python is easy to learn, intuitive, pleasing to the eye and comes

with a plethora of libraries that allow programmers to build all

sorts of applications addressing different domains and activities.