Guido van Rossum

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Guido van Rossum at OSCON 2006.

Guido van Rossum (* 31 January 1956 in Haarlem , The Netherlands ) is a Dutch software developer as the author of programming language Python became known, the development of which he led until his, on his own initiative, retirement in July 2018 as a benevolent dictator for life led . He is the brother of the Dutch typographer and software developer Just van Rossum .

Life

Van Rossum grew up in the Netherlands, the country of his birth , and obtained his master's degree from the University of Amsterdam in 1982 . He later worked at various research institutes including the Dutch Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica , the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) ( Gaithersburg , Maryland), and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) ( Reston , Virginia). He also worked on the programming language ABC, derived from Simula .

Development of the programming language Python

Van Rossum wrote about the origin of Python in 1996:

“More than six years ago, in December 1989, I was looking for a programming project that would keep me busy over the Christmas week. My office would be closed, but I had a PC at home and not much else to do. I chose an interpreter for the scripting language to write, which I recently thought: A successor to ABC, who also Unix - and C - hackers would appeal. I chose Python as the working title for the project because I was in a slightly disrespectful mood (and a big fan of Monty Python's Flying Circus ). "

- Free translation from the introduction to Programming Python , by Mark Lutz, published by O'Reilly

In 1999, van Rossum sent the DARPA a Computer Programming for Everybody ( German  programming for everyone ) above proposal, in which he stated his goals for Python. Python should then:

  • be a simple, intuitive language that is in no way inferior to its competitors in terms of power
  • Be open source so anyone can help with development
  • Have source code that is as easy to read as plain English
  • be suitable for daily tasks and enable short development times

Many of these ideas have since been realized. Python grew into a widely used programming language. In the Python community van Rossum was a benevolent dictator for life (Engl. Benevolent Dictator for Life , LMA ) operates: He led the development pythons and reserved the right to the final decision. On July 12, 2018, van Rossum announced that he would permanently retire from this position. For the time being, however, he will continue to work on the project as a core developer. He left the future procedure for important decisions regarding the development of Python to the community.

Working life

From December 2005 van Rossum worked for Google , from January 2013 for Dropbox . In October 2019 van Rossum retired.

Awards and recognitions

Web links

Commons : Guido van Rossum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Transfer of power . July 12, 2018. python-committers - Mailing list for Python committers. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
  2. ↑ Guido van Rossum. Retrieved November 5, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Guido van Rossum: Python creator switches from Google to Dropbox - Golem.de. Accessed November 5, 2019 (German).
  4. ↑ Thank you, Guido! . October 29, 2019. Dropbox Blog. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  5. ↑ Guido van Rossum Ontvangt NLUUG Award . In: NLUUG , May 28, 2003. Retrieved January 22, 2018. 
  6. ^ Guido van Rossum | Computer History Museum (s) . In: www.computerhistory.org . 
personal data
SURNAME Rossum, Guido van
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch software developer
DATE OF BIRTH January 31, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Haarlem , the Netherlands