Guido van Rossum

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Guido van Rossum

Guido van Rossum is a Dutch computer programmer who is best known as the author of the Python programming language. In the Python community, van Rossum is known as the "Benevolent Dictator for Life (BDFL)", meaning that he continues to oversee the Python development process, making decisions where necessary.

1 Biography
- 1.1 Computer Programming for Everybody
2 Personal life
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography

Van Rossum was born and grew up in the Netherlands, where he received a masters degree from the University of Amsterdam in 1982. He later worked for various research institutes, including the Dutch National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI), Amsterdam, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, Maryland, and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), Reston, Virginia. He worked on the development of the ABC programming language.

About the origin of Python, Van Rossum wrote in 1996:

Over six years ago, in December 1989, I was looking for a "hobby" programming project that would keep me occupied during the week around Christmas. My office ... would be closed, but I had a home computer, and not much else on my hands. I decided to write an interpreter for the new scripting language I had been thinking about lately: a descendant of ABC that would appeal to Unix/C hackers. I chose Python as a working title for the project, being in a slightly irreverent mood (and a big fan of Monty Python's Flying Circus).

In 2000 he further wrote:

Python's predecessor, ABC, was inspired by SETL -- Lambert Meertens spent a year with the SETL group at NYU before coming up with the final ABC design! ^[1]

[edit] Computer Programming for Everybody

In 1999, Van Rossum submitted a funding proposal to DARPA called Computer Programming for Everybody, in which he further defined his goals for Python:

an easy and intuitive language just as powerful as major competitors
open source, so anyone can contribute to its development
code that is as understandable as plain English
suitability for everyday tasks, allowing for short development times

Arguably, several of these ambitions have since been realized. Python has grown to become a popular programming language, particularly in the Internet environment.

Van Rossum received the 2001 Award for the Advancement of Free Software from the Free Software Foundation (FSF) at the 2002 FOSDEM conference in Brussels, Belgium.

In December of 2005, Van Rossum was hired by Google. ^[2] He wrote a web based code review tool for Google in Python^[3].

In 2006 he was recognized as a Distinguished Engineer by the Association for Computing Machinery.

[edit] Personal life

Guido van Rossum is the brother of Just van Rossum, a type designer and also a programmer. Just van Rossum designed the font that is used in the "Python Powered" logo.