Guido van Rossum is a Dutch programmer best known as the creator of the Python programming language, for which he was the "Benevolent dictator for life" until he stepped down from the position in July 2018. He is currently a member of the Python Steering Council, however he has withdrawn from nominations for the 2020 Python Steering Council.
Life and education
Van Rossum was born and raised in the Netherlands, where he received a master's degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Amsterdam in 1982. He has a brother, Just van Rossum, who is a type designer and programmer who designed the typeface used in the "Python Powered" logo. Van Rossum lives in Belmont, California, with his wife, Kim Knapp, and their son. According to his home page and Dutch naming conventions, the "van" in his name is capitalized when he is referred to by surname alone, but not when using his first and last name together.
Work
While working at the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, Van Rossum wrote and contributed a glob routine to BSD Unix in 1986 and helped develop the ABC programming language. He once stated, "I try to mention ABC's influence because I'm indebted to everything I learned during that project and to the people who worked on it." He also created Grail, an early web browser written in Python, and engaged in discussions about the HTML standard. He has worked for various research institutes, including the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica in the Netherlands, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives. From 2000 until 2003 he worked for Zope corporation. In 2003 Van Rossum left Zope for Elemental Security. While there he worked on a custom programming language for the organization. From 2005 to December 2012, he worked at Google, where he spent half of his time developing the Python language. In January 2013, he started working for Dropbox. In October 2019, Van Rossum officially retired.
Python
In December 1989, Van Rossum had been looking for a hobby' programming project that would keep occupied during the week around Christmas" as his office was closed when he decided to write an interpreter for a "new scripting language had been thinking about lately: a descendant of ABC that would appeal to Unix/C hackers". He attributes choosing the name "Python" to "being in a slightly irreverent mood ". He has explained that Python's predecessor, ABC, was inspired by SETL, noting that ABC co-developer Lambert Meertens had "spent a year with the SETL group at NYU before coming up with the final ABC design". In July 2018, Van Rossum announced that he would be stepping down from the position of BDFL of the Python programming language.
1999 "Computer Programming for Everybody" proposal
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
