Why choose Python ?
well, we didn't!
Actually, we chose ZOPE, and Python was an almost unwanted consequence.
Around 2001, we were looking for an open source application server or framework to build Web systems. I discovered ZOPE, which despite using a strange language called Python, could become a powerful tool for us. We invested our time and started selling applications made in ZOPE and soon after in Plone - which depended on ZOPE, which in turn was written in Python.
In 2002, one of the first Python events in Brazil took place, if not the first. The event was "Python Day", that happened at UNICAMP. In addition to scientists and computer engineers, there were speakers from other areas such as a biologist who built a desktop application in Python to analyze DNA chains which caught my attention.
We soon began to understand the full potential of Python
- Readability
- Simplicity
- Versatility
- Rapid prototyping and development
- Multiplatform
Writing Python code was simple, and many of the data manipulation and even logic needs, has some sort ready-made function.
Another factor was its ability to run the same code on Linux and Windows, that is, cross-platform. Python was not the only language with this feature, but it stood out for its "work as a whole" ;).
After ZOPE came Plone and some time later Django.
The Django web framework
The Django Web framework was a game changer for NECTO (ZNC at that time). Django had ready-made and integrated modules in addition to the ability to connect with different databases.
It had a user management module, an "ok" template language, MVC approach (MTV for the pure of heart), met standards for Web application development, helped with security.
I'm talking about Django version 0.96
If the solution was a web application that depended on a user interface (HTML) and tabular data management, I believe that Django was, and still is, the ideal tool.
Django/Python brought more productivity and ease of maintenance.
Furthermore, the Python language already had one of the best features still present today. It has a legion of fans in different areas of knowledge, who create a huge amount of libraries and tools for manipulating data and solving recurring problems in the area of software and Web development.
For example, although we do not consider ourselves a GIS company, we have developed a series of solutions with this characteristic, the manipulation of spacial data (maps on the Web).
Because of a project for an NGO linked to the environment, we ended up developing a series of systems for clients in the environmental area.
And it was Python along with Django and the PostgreSQL/PostGIS database that made these solutions possible, as there were a number of open source libraries for management and visualization of spatial data. Python has been popular in the GIS world for some time.
Python is a general purpose language
Later we saw Python's popularity explode. Python is used by physicists, Fintechs, data scientists and within the field of artificial intelligence.
When we started using it, Python was not very well known in the corporate world. So, I saw the language grow with fintechs and "bigdata" - commercially speaking.
In fact, I believe that many people use Python without knowing it, because it is behind the content engine, the ERP engine, it makes it possible to import data, into the company's data lake, etc.
Python at ZNC Necto
Today, Python is still the main working language at Necto. Along with a series of other languages, it is used to develop Web solutions.
Django is still the Python Web framework when it comes to data management with a user interface.
The FastAPI or Flask micro-framework are used to build data pipelines and integration APIs.
Our automatic deployment systems are made using Ansible, which is based an extensible with Python.
Some facts:
- The name Python comes from the English comedy group "Monty Pyhton"
- You can use Python as a scripting language in software such as: Autodesk Maya, Blender 3D, ArcGIS, Corel Paint Shop Pro, PostgreSQL (Database), Inkscape,
- Celebrities (Services) who use Python: Instagram, Youtube, Reddit,
- Python has an interpreter made in Python - Pypy - the Python that runs Python.
>>> from __future__ import braces
SyntaxError: not a chance
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