python is an easy to learnpowerful programming language it has efficient high-level data structures and simple but effective approach to object-oriented programming python' elegant syntax and dynamic typingtogether with its interpreted naturemake it an ideal language for scripting and rapid application development in many areas on most platforms the python interpreter and the extensive standard library are freely available in source or binary form for all major platforms from the python web sitesame site also contains distributions of and pointers to many free third party python modulesprograms and toolsand additional documentation the python interpreter is easily extended with new functions and data types implemented in or +(or other languages callable from cpython is also suitable as an extension language for customizable applications this tutorial introduces the reader informally to the basic concepts and features of the python language and system it helps to have python interpreter handy for hands-on experiencebut all examples are self-containedso the tutorial can be read off-line as well for description of standard objects and modulessee library-index reference-index gives more formal definition of the language to write extensions in or ++read extending-index and -api-index there are also several books covering python in depth this tutorial does not attempt to be comprehensive and cover every single featureor even every commonly used feature insteadit introduces many of python' most noteworthy featuresand will give you good idea of the language' flavor and style after reading ityou will be able to read and write python modules and programsand you will be ready to learn more about the various python library modules described in library-index the glossary is also worth going through contents