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Python Popularity
In this century, data has become the field of exploration through the world is meticulously and precisely understood. Data has become gold. This exploration is made possible through the availability of well-sophisticated programming language called Python. This programming language is becoming more and more popular. The recent report on the state of data science published by Anaconda revealed that 63% of 4299 individuals from more than 140 countries said they use Python in the online survey conducted from April 14, 2021-May 5, 2021. The same report also revealed that 71% of educators teach Python, and 88% of students reported they are learning Python in preparation to enter the data science/Machine learning field (Anaconda, 2021). Python has gained the growing popularity within the scientific community (Raschka et al., 2020)
Use of the python
This popularity increasingly recognized appears due to the fact that python has several applications in various field of sciences or business. Python can be used in the field of Artificial intelligence (Mihajlović et al., 2020). Python is is “a high-level interpreted programming language, which is widely recognized for being easy to learn” and very useful in workloads in data science, machine learning, and scientific computing (Raschka et al., 2020; Nagpal & Gabrani, 2019). Moreover, python is even useful in network administration, web development, computer games programming and other programs that possess the an integrated support for Python scripts (Nagpal & Gabrani, 2019).
The guide to Python learning
According to World Economic Forum website, some of the top 10 skills needed in future by 2015, that related to mastery of python, I think, are: analytical thinking and innovation, critical thinking and analysis, complex problem solving, and technology design and programming (World Economic Forum, 2020). Therefore, any person with good spirit of learning, as encouraged by World Economic Forum that people should be actively learning and develop learning strategies, can learn python in an easy way.
The easy way to get Python installed in a good laptop is to follow instructions outlined in Anaconda website https://www.anaconda.com/products/individual. If you are a Windows user, Linux user or Mac user, you install the Python accordingly.
Installing Anaconda is straightforward: download the binary and follow the instructions.
You consider these following points:
- Install the latest version.
- If you are asked during the installation process whether you’d like to make Anaconda your default Python installation, say yes.
- Otherwise, you can accept all of the defaults.
To update Anaconda:
- Open up a terminal
- Type conda update anaconda
Starting the Jupyter Notebook
You can start the Jupyter notebook by:
- search for Jupyter in your applications menu, or
- open up a terminal and type jupyter notebook
- Windows users should substitute “Anaconda command prompt” for “terminal”
If you use the second option, the output tells you the notebook is running at http://localhost:8888/
- localhost is the name of the local machine
- 8888 refers to port number 8888 on your computer
Assuming all this has worked OK, you can now click on New at the top right and select Python 3 or similar.
Here’s what shows up on our machine:
After selecting Python 3:
Then you can type your syntax in the cell:
To learn more about python, you can:
- Browse some Python projects on GitHub(https://github.com/trending?l=python).
- Have a look at some of the Jupyter notebooks people have shared on various scientific topics (https://nbviewer.org/).
- More importantly,use Kaggle and Zindi Africa website
- Search Online bootcamps: Lux Tech Academy
Conclusion
Python is a general-purpose programming language, more popular and very useful to perform very sophisticated projects related to data analytics, web development, artificial intelligence and machine learning and scientific computing. Its mastery requires a very consistent spirit of learning.
REFERENCES
Nagpal, A., & Gabrani, G. (2019). Python for data analytics, scientific and technical applications. 2019 Amity International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AICAI). https://doi.org/10.1109/aicai.2019.8701341
Anaconda (2021). 2021 State Of Data Science Report: On the path to impact. Anaconda
Mihajlović, S., Kupusinac, A., Ivetić, D. & Berković, I. (2020). The Use of Python in the field of Artifical Intelligence. International Conference on Information Technology and Development of Education – ITRO 2020 October, 2020. Zrenjanin, Republic of Serbia
World Economic Forum, (2020).These are the top 10 job skills of tomorrow – and how long it takes to learn them. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/top-10-work-skills-of-tomorrow-how-long-it-takes-to-learn-them/
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