Python is a general-purpose programming language. Guido van Rossum created it in the early 1990s in the Netherlands, and since 2001 the Python Software Foundation (PSF), a non-profit organization, has owned the rights to it and manages its license.
Python is interpreted: an interpreter reads and runs the source code directly, without a separate compile step, and it can also run commands interactively one at a time. It uses dynamic typing, so the type of a variable is checked while the program runs, not before. It supports object-oriented, procedural and functional programming, with a very clear syntax. A standard library comes with the language, and the Python Package Index (PyPI) hosts thousands of third-party modules, for example for web development, database access, desktop interfaces and scientific and numeric work. Python runs on Linux, macOS and Windows, and it can be extended with modules written in C or C++.
Python is open source under an OSI-approved license, the PSF License, and is free to use, also for commercial purposes.