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 a "Benevolent Dictator For Life", meaning
that he continues to oversee the Python development process, making decisions where necessary.
He was employed by Google from 2005 until 7 December 2012, where he spent half his time
developing the Python language.
In January 2013, Van Rossum started working for Dropbox.
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,
Amsterdam, the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg,
Maryland, and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, 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 Belmont, California with his wife, Kim Knapp, and their son, Orlijn.
Work While working at the Stichting Mathematisch
Centrum, Guido van Rossum wrote and contributed a glob() routine to BSD Unix in 1986.
Van Rossum also worked on the development of the ABC programming language.
Python
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.
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!
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
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, and according
to a programming language popularity survey 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.
Mondrian
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, a Dutch painter.
He named another, related software project after Gerrit Rietveld, another Dutch designer.
Dropbox On 7 December 2012, Dropbox announced that
Van Rossum would be joining the company.
Recognition Van Rossum received the 2001 Award for the
Advancement of Free Software from the Free Software Foundation at the 2002 FOSDEM conference
in Brussels, Belgium.
Van Rossum received a NLUUG Award in May 2003.
In 2006, Van Rossum was recognized as a Distinguished Engineer by the Association for Computing
Machinery.
References
External links
Guido van Rossum's homepage Neopythonic
All Things Pythonic The History of Python Guido's blog on the
History of Python and design decisions Computer Programming for Everybody
Interview with Guido van Rossum on FLOSS Weekly Computerworld Interview with Guido van Rossum
on Python Google App Engine — Run your web applications
on Google's infrastructure — technical talk on Google App Engine given by Guido van Rossum
at Stanford University.