Briefly explain the salient features of Python.

The salient features of Python are as follows:

1. Python is an interpreted, interactive, directly executed language with a pre-compiled code. This means that it is processed at runtime by the interpreter and we need not compile our program before executing it.
2. It is a loosely type object-oriented programming language with a few keywords, simple English-like structure and is easy to learn.
3. It is a free, open-source and portable language having a large repository of libraries.
4. It takes less time to develop as Python programs are typically 3 to 5 times shorter than the equivalent programming languages. This is because of its built-in, high-level data types and its dynamic typing.
5. It is extensible/extendable and highly efficient as there is no wastage of time in declaring the types of variables or arguments.
6. It supports GUI (Graphical User Interface) and garbage collection (better memory management).
7. It is easily compatible with other languages like C, C++, Core Java etc.
8. Python is used for both scientific and non-scientific programming.