Guido van Rossum

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Guido van Rossum

Van Rossum at OSCON 2006
Born (1956-01-31) 31 January 1956
Haarlem, Netherlands[1][2]
Nationality Dutch
Alma mater University of Amsterdam
Occupation Computer programmer, author
Employer Dropbox[3]
Known for Python programming language
Spouse(s) Kim Knapp
Children Orlijn Michiel Knapp-van Rossum[4]
Awards Award for the Advancement of Free Software (2001)
Website
python.org/~guido/
neopythonic.blogspot.com/

Guido van Rossum (born 31 January[5] 1956) 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 a "Benevolent Dictator For Life" (BDFL), meaning that he continues to oversee the Python development process, making decisions where necessary.[6] He was employed by Google from 2005 until December 7th 2012, where he spent half his time developing the Python language. In January 2013, Van Rossum started working for Dropbox.[3]

Biography

Van Rossum was born and grew up in the Netherlands, where he received a masters degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Amsterdam in 1982. He later worked for various research institutes, including the Dutch Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), Amsterdam, the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, Maryland, and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), Reston, Virginia.

Personal life

Guido van Rossum is the brother of Just van Rossum, a type designer and programmer. Just van Rossum designed the typeface that is used in the "Python Powered" logo. Guido lives in California with his American wife, Kim Knapp,[7] and their son, Orlijn.[8][9][10]

Work

While working at the Stichting Mathematisch Centrum (CWI), Guido van Rossum wrote and contributed a glob() routine to BSD Unix in 1986.[11][12] Van Rossum also worked on the development of the ABC programming language.

Python

Van Rossum at the Google I/O Developer's Conference.

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).[13]

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![14]

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. For example, as of November 2011, it is the 3rd most popular language on the GitHub social coding website,[15] [Link Broken] and according to a programming language popularity survey[16] it is consistently amongst the top 10 most mentioned languages in job postings. Additionally, it is consistently in the top 10 most popular languages according to the TIOBE Programming Community Index.[17]

Mondrian (Google software)

Not to be confused with Mondrian (software), data visualisation software, or Mondrian OLAP server.

Working for Google, Van Rossum developed Mondrian, a code review system internally used by the Google company. The code is web-based and primarily based on Python.

Van Rossum named the software after Piet Mondrian (1872–1944; birth name Mondriaan), a Dutch painter.[18] He named another, related software project after Gerrit Rietveld, another Dutch designer.

Dropbox

On Dec 7, 2012, Dropbox announced that they were "thrilled to welcome Guido, creator of Python and long-time friend, to the Dropbox team!!" [19][20]

Recognition

References

  1. ↑ "Old interview – Guido van Rossum". Retrieved 28 January 2014. "I only took some time to visit my family in Haarlem." 
  2. ↑ "Schoolbank profile". Retrieved 28 January 2014. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Constine, Josh. "Dropbox Hires Away Google’s Guido Van Rossum, The Father Of Python". Techcrunch. Retrieved 12/7/2012. 
  4. ↑ Guido van Rossum - CodeCall Programming Wiki
  5. ↑ (Python-Dev) Happy Birthday, Guido!, Guido van Rossum, January 31 17:00:29 CET 2007, Python-Dev mailing list
  6. ↑ "Benevolent dictator for life". Linux Format. 2005-02-01. Retrieved 2007-11-01. 
  7. ↑ (Python-Dev) Guido and Kim married, Ken Manheimer, 6 June 2000, Python-Dev -- Python core developers
  8. ↑ Guido van Rossum - Brief Bio
  9. ↑ (Mailman-Announce) forwarded message from Guido van Rossum, "Oh, and to top it all off, I'm going on vacation. I'm getting married and will be relaxing on my honeymoon."
  10. ↑ What's New in Python?, "Not your usual list of new features", Stanford CSL Colloquium, October 29, 2003; BayPiggies, November 13, 2003, Guido van Rossum, Elemental Security
  11. ↑ 'Globbing' library routine
  12. ↑ File::Glob - Perl extension for BSD glob routine - metacpan.org
  13. ↑ Foreword for "Programming Python" (1st ed.)
  14. ↑ [Python-Dev] SETL (was: Lukewarm about range literals)
  15. ↑ GitHub.com Top Languages
  16. ↑ Programming Language Popularity
  17. ↑ TIOBE Programming Community Index for November 2011, , November 2011
  18. ↑ Guido van Rossum (May 2008). "An Open Source App: Rietveld Code Review Tool". Retrieved 2012-08-24. "... the internal web app, which I code-named Mondrian after one of my favorite Dutch painters" 
  19. ↑ "Dropbox Tech Blog » Blog Archive » Welcome Guido!". Tech.dropbox.com. 2012-12-07. Retrieved 2013-09-06. 
  20. ↑ "Twitter / Dropbox: We're thrilled to welcome Guido". Twitter.com. Retrieved 2013-09-06. 

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