Now a days, the popularity of scientific computing environments such as IDL, Maple, Mathematica, Matlab and R has increased considerably. Engineer simply feel more productive in such environments. One reason is the simple and clean syntax of command languages in these environments. Another factor is tight integration of simulation and visualization in Maple, R and similar environments you can quickly and conveniently visualize what you just have computed. One problem with the mentioned environments is that they do not work, at least not in an easy way, with other types of numerical software and visualization systems. Many of the environment specific programming languages are also quite simple or primitive. At this point scripting in Python comes in.

Python offers the clean and simple syntax of the popular scientific computing environments, the language is very powerful, and there are lots of tools for simulation, visualization, and data analysis programs. Python allows you to build your own Matlab like scientific computing environment, tailored to your specific needs and based on your favorite high performance FORTRAN, C, or C++ codes.

Scientific Computing Is More Than Number Crunching: Many computational scientists work with their own numerical software development and realize that much of the work is not only writing computationally intensive number-crunching loops. Very often programming is about shuffling data in and out of different tools, converting one data format to another, extracting numerical data from a text, and administering numerical experiments involving a large number of data files and directories. Such tasks are much faster to accomplish in a language like Python than in FORTRAN, C, C++, and C#.

Scripting is particularly attractive for building demos related to teaching or project presentations. Such demos benefit greatly from a GUI, which offers input data specification, calls up a simulation code, and visualizes the results. The simple and intuitive syntax of Python encourages users to modify and extend demos on their own, even if you are newcomers to Python.

Python has some clear advantageous over Matlab and similar environments:

• The Python programming language is more powerful.
• The Python environment is completely open and made for integration with external tools.
• A complete toolbox/module with lots of functions and classes can be contained in a single file.
• Transferring functions as arguments to functions is simpler.
• Nested, heterogeneous data structures are simple to construct and use.
• Object-oriented programming is more convenient.
• Interfacing C, C++, and FORTRAN code is better supported and therefore simpler.
• Scalar functions work with array arguments to a larger extent (without modifications of arithmetic operators).
• The source is free and runs on more platforms.

How to run Python script

One of the most important skills you need to build as a Python developer is to be able to run Python scripts and code. This is going to be the only way for you to know if your code works as you planned. It’s even the only way of knowing if your code works at all!

A Python script is a reusable set of code which is essentially a Python program or a sequence of Python instructions contained in a file. You can run the program by specifying the name of the script file to the interpreter. 

This step-by-step will guide you through a series of ways to run Python scripts, depending on your environment, platform, needs, and skills as a programmer. When you try to run Python scripts, a multi-step process begins. 

1. Run Python Scripts Using the Command-Line: A Python interactive session will allow you to write a lot of lines of code, but once you close the session, you lose everything you’ve written. That’s why the usual way of writing Python programs is by using plain text files. By convention, those files will use the .py extension. Open a command-line and type in the word ‘python’ followed by the path to script file and press enter. You’ll see output on your screen.
2. Run Python Scripts Interactively: It is also possible to run Python scripts and modules from an interactive session. This option offers you a variety of possibilities.
   • Taking advantage of import
   • Use importlib and imp
   • Use runpy.run_module()
   • Hacking exec()
   • Use execfile()
3. Run Python Scripts from an IDE or a Text Editor: IDE offer the possibility of running your scripts from inside the environment itself. It is common for them to include a Run or Build command, which is usually available from the tool bar or from the main menu.
4. Run Python Scripts From a File Manager: Running a script by double-clicking on its icon in a file manager is another possible way to run your Python scripts. This option may not be widely used in the development stage, but it may be used when you release your code for production.

After you play around with Python on your own or in an online tutorial, I highly recommend to you to write small scripts to strengthen your knowledge. To stay motivated, choose a program that is in some way useful to you, so you can gain insight while figuring out Python. Below are a few ways you can begin to build your expert level in Python script:

• Python Documentation
• Google and stackoverflow
• Ask an experience person

First, create a very basic version end-to-end. It is much less frustrating than trying to build a super-duper version from scratch. A big plus is that you will have something you can use very fast. Then iterate and add more complex functionality one by one.

Second, decompose large problems to smaller ones by introducing functions. Small, cohesive functions are easy to understand, test and debug.

Last, but probably the most important thing to keep in mind, is practice makes perfect. Start small, be patient and practice. Happy coding!