Python is a ‘high-level,’ ‘general-purpose’ programming language. Python is ‘dynamically typed’ and ‘garbage collected.’ These are the programming terms that used to define what Python is. Let’s see a brief introduction of these terms:
High-level Language
A high-level language is a programming language that is designed to make it easier for humans to understand and write. It is close to natural language and uses commands and instructions that are more abstract and less dependent on the specific details of the underlying computer hardware.
High-level languages allow programmers to write code that is more readable, maintainable, and portable. Python, Java, C++, JavaScript, etc. These are the high-level languages; these languages have syntax and structure that are close to human-readable language.
General-purpose Programming Language (GPL)
A general-purpose programming language is a programming language for building software in a wide variety of application domains. GPL can be used to solve a wide variety of problems.
While domain-specific programming language (DSL) is used within a specific area. For example, Python is GPL, while SQL is DSL. GPL is also known as text-based programming.
Dynamically Typed Language
In dynamically typed languages, ‘data type’ checking takes place at runtime or execution time. This means that data type is checked only when the program is executing.
While in a statically typed language, before execution, the data type associated with each and every single variable must be known.
Garbage-collected (GC)
Garbage collection is a memory recovery feature built into programming languages. GC-enabled programming languages include one or more garbage collectors (GC engines) that automatically free up memory space that has been allocated to objects no longer needed by the program.
Interpreted Language
An interpreted language is a language in which the implementations execute instructions directly without earlier compiling a program into machine language.
The other is a compiled programming language, a program written in a compiled language converted into machine code so that the processor can execute it.
Open-source Language
Open-source programming languages are not owned by anyone. They are easily available. They are usually maintained by a community. Anyone can modify them.