Why is it useful? How is it used for Digital Preservation?

Reasons why Python is useful to Digital Preservation (DP):

• Easy to use/ adopt / low cost
  • Python has low barriers to entry for getting started with some basic programming skills. This can be useful for communities not native to working with programming languages. In addition, it can be a low cost alternative for institutions to consider, in lieu of paying for software that could accomplish the same tasks. Staff can develop these skills over time as well as build their own code libraries that are easy to update and customise for different purposes. Python is an option to troubleshoot and develop solutions to routine DP tasks and activities.
• Data analysis
  • It can analyse large data sets very quickly and carry out repetitive tasks.
  • This is useful for working with large amounts of datasets and files in digital preservation that may require data parsing actions such as: batch renaming, moving, identifying, validation, transformation etc.
• Versatility
  • Python can be used for both small and complex tasks and there is a wide array of existing Python Libraries available that coders can utilize and benefit from.
  • Python allows you to call external command line tools, which can be used to develop digital preservation workflows, for instance AIP generation.
• Community
  • The use of code libraries means that code can get written and reused, developing a community over time. GitHub contains many programs written in Python, and there is an active community of DP practitioners that write tools in Python that are useful for Digital Preservation.
• Cross-platform
  • Python will work with different environments such as Windows, Linux or macOS. This is useful in digital preservation, as practitioners work in a variety of environments and don’t always have control over their Operating System (OS) environments.