Python is a general purpose programming language. Although it is used for a wide variety of applications, Python is very suitable for developing web applications. It has a clean and elegant syntax. It is supported by a large library of standard and contributed modules, which covers everything from multi-threading to the zipping of files. The language's object-oriented model is especially suited for MVC style development.
Sooner or later, performance will become a major concern with web projects. Python's runtime environment shines here, as it is known to be fast and stable. Python supports a wide range of web servers through modules, including the famous Apache. Furthermore, it is available for all the major platforms: UNIX/Linux, Windows, and Mac. Python also supports a wide array of database servers, but you won't have to deal directly with them. Django provides a unified layer of access to all available database engines, as we will see later.
Python is a free software that you can download and freely use from http://python.org/. You are even allowed to distribute it without having to pay any fees. Access to the source code is available to those who want to add features or fix bugs. As a result, Python enjoys a large community of developers who quickly fix bugs and introduce new features.
Python is very easy to learn, and it is being adopted in many universities as the first programming language to be taught. Although this book assumes working knowledge of Python, advanced features will be explained as they are used. If you want to refresh your Python knowledge, you are recommended to read the official Python tutorial available at http://python.org/doc/ before continuing with this book.
To sum up, Python was chosen over many other scripting languages for this book. The reasons are:
A clean and elegant syntax
A large standard library of modules that covers a wide range of tasks
Extensive documentation
A mature runtime environment
Support for standard and proven technologies such as Linux and Apache
Note
If you want to learn more about Python and its features, these are two excellent sources: the official Python web site at http://python.org/ and the Python book Dive Into Python (freely available at http://www.diveintopython.org/).