Sometimes choosing a programming language to learn is hard. Common advice would be “Choose a language based around your goal. The details will follow.” This holds true, but when you’re at the beginning and don’t know where to go, what is the goal? There are too many cool things to try and it is difficult to narrow down focus. Not to mention, different technologies and languages continue to pop up and diversify their applications. It can be overwhelming. Python is an option and it offers a lot.

Python is convenient. It is easy to learn because the syntax is simple. Learning to write Python code is intuitive, but the language design allows reading Python code to be simple too. Other languages use compilers to run a program. That requires multiple steps and executes the program as a whole. Python is interpreted. This means code is executed line by line, thus it is easier to debug. Additionally, Python is very portable. It can run on different operating systems (Windows, Linux, iOS) without code alterations. It can also be integrated into other programming languages. Because of Python popularity, there are plenty of ways to set up a python development environment (even on the cloud), and ask for help.

Beyond being convenient, Python is full of development possibilities. There are many libraries and frameworks that simplify code for a large range of complicated tasks. A few examples are Django, Flask, BeautifulSoup, SciPy, Pandas, and Tkinter. Though HTML, CSS, and Javascript are the typical tools for web development, Python is another option for it. A lot of developers start off by building games like Snake, Pong, or Tetris. Then they move into creating their own games; Python offers tools to build 3D or 2D games. A fun project may be a functional desktop GUI or an image processing application. If there is an open source project that catches your eye, then you can develop a new feature to go with it. Python scripting also allows for a lot of automation. It could be reading or formatting data, sending emails, or error checking. Recently, Python is popular for AI, machine learning, and data science. With just these examples of applications of Python, millions of projects can be created. The main limit is imagination.

Having a goal when learning to program is great. But that goal is not always visible, and waiting for it to appear is a waste of time. If unsure, Python basics will accomplish a lot and create familiarity with computer logic. If you decide and change your mind, the language is still viable for many other development options. Python is convenient to use and it branches in multiple directions.