Use of Python programming language in astronomy and science

Abstract

The use of Python is noticeably growing among the scientific community, and Astronomy is not an exception. The power of Python consists of being an extremely versatile high-level language, easy to program that combines both traditional programming and data reduction and analysis tools. Here I make a brief introduction to Python, mentioning a few programming practices implemented in the language and some of its useful features on the process of data manipulation. I cover in a little more detail the standard scientific libraries (NumPy and SciPy) for data handling, the graphical library (Matplotlib), and tools for specific use in astronomy (PyFITS and PyRAF). Good programming practices and how they are implemented at the language are also viewed. Python resources and references are mentioned through- out the text for those who wish to go deeper and make use of the power of the language.