User FAQs

1) Is there any official documentation for Python Programming ?

link - docs.python.org 

2) Is Python an Interpreted or Compiled programming language ?
Python is interpreted (similar to JavaScript) which means the code is executed line by line at run time.
Compiled languages (such as C# and VBA) have a build/compile step which converts the code into machine code.

3) Is Python a Loosely or Strongly Typed programming language ?
Python is Strongly Typed because it enforces the type of every value at runtime and refuses to perform unsafe or implicit conversions.
There is no implicit conversion between data types, everything must be converted explicitly.

x = "1" + 2    # is this an error ? 

4) Is Python a Dynamically or Statically Typed programming language ?
Python is Dynamically Typed language, the data type of a variable is determined at runtime, not at compile time.
No need to declare data types manually.
Python automatically detects it based on the assigned value.

x = 10       # x is an integer 
x = "Hello"  # Now x is a string 

5) Is Python a Functional or Object Orientated programming language ?
Python is Object Orientated with strong functional features layered in.
Everything in Python is an object - integers, functions, modules, classes, even types themselves.

6) What is the Standard Library ?
The library contains a collection of modules (written in Python or C)
The windows installation includes the entire standard library as well as some additional components
The unix installation is provided as a collection of packages

7) What is a Package ?
A package is a way of organizing and distributing libraries and modules.

8) What is a Library ?
A library is a collection of modules packaged together.
Example - NumPy is a library
Example - Pandas is a library

9) What is a Module ?
A module is a single Python file (.py)
Example - math.py is a module

10) What is a Namespace ?
A namespace in Python refers to a container where names (variables, functions, objects) are mapped to objects.
In simple terms, a namespace is a space where names are defined and stored and it helps avoid naming conflicts by ensuring that names are unique within a given scope.
Built-in Namespace - Contains all the built-in functions and exceptions, like print(), int(), etc. These are available in every Python program.
Global Namespace - Contains names from all the objects, functions and variables in the program at the top level.
Local Namespace - Refers to names inside a function or method. Each function call creates a new local namespace.

11) What is the Python Software Foundation ?
The PSF is the name of the organization that holds the copyright on Python 2.1 and later versions.
Python was originally created by Guido Van Rossum in 1989 and was first released in 1991.
It was always free and always open source.

12) What is the .pyd file extension ?
This is the equivalent to a "dll" file.

13) What is the difference between the ".py" and ".pyc" file extensions ?
.py - contains human written python code
.pyc - contains compiled bytecode that has been automatically generated

14) What does PEP stand for ?
Python Enhancement Proposal and is the official document used to describe a new feature or process.

link - peps.python.org/pep-0008/ 

15) What is PIP ?
PIP is an acronym for Python Installer Package which provides a seamless interface to install various Python modules.
It is a command-line tool that can search for packages over the internet and install them without any user interaction.

16) What is PYTHONPATH ?
This is an environment variable

17) How is memory managed ?
This is handled by the Python Memory Manager