A study conducted by Coverity has found open-source Python code to contain a lower defect density than any other language. The 2012 Scan Report found an average defect density of .69 for open source software projects that leverage the Coverity Scan service, as compared to the accepted industry standard defect density for good quality software of 1.0. Python’s defect density of .005 significantly surpasses this standard, and introduces a new level of quality for open source software. Python software has been in use for more than 20 years, enabling secure and reliable programs for industry, service sector and research and science applications. Industry-leading organizations including CERN, Google, Mozilla and YouTube, among many others, incorporate the popular programming language into their applications. Coverity’s code-scanning system for open-source projects, including Python, has been in place since 2006, when the effort was first funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The original DHS funding grant was only for a three-year term, and since its expiration, Coverity has been funding the open-source code scanning on its own. The open-source Python programming language has continued to steadily improve its code quality in recent years and now surpasses that of its open-source and proprietary peers. I myself love the Python language it’s my language of choice.
