Editing Community Data Science Course (Spring 2015)/Day 1 Plan (section)

=== Why Python ===

I know a dozen programming languages and write 4-5 regularly. But Python is the right one.

==== Python is a fantastic language to learn ====

Believe it or not, compared to other programming languages:

* Python has a low "syntatic overhead".
* It's easy to get work done quickly.
* It's relatively forgiving.

==== Python is versatile useful for a range of applications ====

There are easier programming languages to learn. But Python is important because it is ''not a toy''. In designing the curriculum for these workshops, we have tried to only teach tools that we, as professional data scientists and programmers, use ourselves and find useful.

Python is used for:

* Web applications (Instagram, Pintrest, and the Washington Post all run websites written largely in Python).
* Python can be used to extend existing applications. You can use it to script many graphical applications.
* Python is fantastic for dealing with and manipulating text.
* Python can be used to build graphical games (Frets on Fire)
* ''Python really shines when it comes to dealing with data and with the web.''