Python is so often the right tool for the job because of its simplicity – an aspect of the language dating back to its very founding. This same flexibility makes Python ideal for use by beginners, ...

According to one measure, Python is potentially on the verge of becoming the most popular computer programming language and joining C and Java as the only other languages to attain the top spot.

Take dynamic typing as an example. It seems amazing at first: Python literally figures out by itself what sort of value a variable might take, and you don’t need to waste another line of code by ...