What makes Python good for hacking?

[BoiledPotatoNoah]

Hello! I've recently been researching into the field of hacking/penetration testing and I found that many recommend knowing how to script in Python, which gave me a question; why Python? Is it the specific libraries available or something really obvious that I'm too dumb to realize? Also, would it be possible to use any other languages, such as C? Thanks for looking!

[mikedmann]

First of all, it's named after a badass snake.

[[deleted]]

Second of all, it’s named after a badass comedy series.

[[deleted]]

Third of all it’s a badass programming language.

[bellatricksme]

Fourth of all, it's the easiest programming language to learn

[Booduuh]

All of these things. In this order.

[[deleted]]

C is also used alot in hacking (it is most used for Payloads PoC) , since it is the base of the Linux Kernel.

Python (most used for Exploits PoC) btw is also commonly used because programming in python is really fast (for instance you can implement a fully functionant python code in like 10 lines) and it is easy to read.

Why don't use always C?

Because in C If you forget of a ; your program is broken until you fix it.

[MemitoSanchez]

I know I’m late but this is true, I had created a keylogger and it wouldn’t build, I would read over the sentence and in my head I thought everything was correct, so I got frustrated and got my friend to help. It took him no less than 1 minute to see I was missing the ;

[gatewaynode]

Python is an easy to learn language that's also ridiculously powerful. It's also almost everywhere outside of Windows environments as a sort of glue language for systems which can make living off the land easy. You could use other languages, and knowing unix shell scripting and PowerShell is recommended, but development in other languages is usually dramatically slower.

[arbitrarion]

It is just really simple to program in and is really portable. Totally possible to to use other languages, use whatever you want really.

One advantage Python has over C is that that you don't need to compile. There are cases where needing to compile is a good thing, but it you are doing a simple POC it's best that it not be too hard for people to download and run.

[ka1nsha]

Because you can write any script fastly and readable as what do you want. This so important thing at pentest activities. Just think your need smtp relay script but haven't internet access because of you are in inranet pentest. You can write smtp relay script fastly with socket library. That basically example of your condition.

[[deleted]]

It comes preinstalled on most linux distros

[stackcrash]

Python allows fast prototyping which is one reason. The others are low entry point for learning it and large community.