Favorite Python Language Feature

Jun 11, 2025

There are so many nice things about the Python language—it has a robust standard library, clear syntax, many libraries, and wide support—that I had to think for a while before writing this post.

Probably my favorite feature from Python is its syntax. The language use indentation to represent nested blocks instead of curly brackets, and it avoids semicolons to end lines. It looks simpler and cleaner than most other languages.

The syntax of Python probably has widespread effects:

It leads to Python's use as a "glue" language, where developers publish libraries that are written in other languages, but used in Python.

It is less intimidating to beginners, which helps the language grow over time.

It is probably more difficult to optimize because of lack of type hints.

In a sense Python's syntax makes it what it is—if it had more complex, expressive syntax, it would have been passed over as a "glue" language and would not have the same library support it has. Beginners would avoid such a language, making it less prevalent. And, like C++ or Rust, if Python had more complex syntax, it could probably be optimized to run faster.

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