python: Python
Python is a programming language widely used worldwide for developing software, analyzing data, automating tasks, and building web applications and AI systems. The language is known for its readability, simple syntax, and powerful functionality. Python is open source and is actively maintained and further developed by a large community of programmers.
The origin of Python lies in the Netherlands. Work on the programming language began in December 1989 at the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam. The language was developed by Guido van Rossum. He was looking for a project to keep himself busy during the Christmas holidays and started work on an interpreter for a new scripting language, inspired by the existing language ABC. The goal was to create a language that was easy to read and write, with a clear structure and a focus on programmability without unnecessary complexity.
The name "Python" is derived from the British comedy group Monty Python, not a random choice but a nod from Guido van Rossum to his humorous preferences. Although the name also refers to a snake in Dutch, that played no role in the choice. The technical meaning is decisive here: Python is a programming language, not the reptile.
The first public release of Python was version 0.9.0, released on February 20, 1991. This early version already contained core features typical of Python, such as exception handling, functions, core data types (such as lists, dictionaries, and strings), and modular structure via import statements. Notably, Python strongly emphasized the principle of readable code from the start—a characteristic that remains a core value of the language to this day.
In February 1991, Python 0.9.1 was published on the Usenet newsgroup alt.sources. This distribution method was typical of software development at the time: open, decentralized, and accessible to anyone with an internet connection. The availability on Usenet marked the beginning of broader adoption of Python among programmers looking for a flexible, scalable, and understandable programming environment.
In January 1994, Python 1.0 appeared. This release brought no revolutionary changes, but it did bring important stability improvements and new functionalities, such as support for lambda, map, filter, and reduce—functions strongly inspired by functional programming languages. The release of Python 1.0 marked an important milestone in the maturity of the language and laid the foundation for broader applications in the years that followed.
On October 16, 2000, Python 2.0 was released. This version added important new features, such as a garbage collector with support for circular references, support for Unicode, and the introduction of list comprehensions—a powerful syntactic element for generating lists. Python 2.0 was a major step forward in terms of performance, stability, and usability. The language increasingly began to position itself as a serious player in the world of software development, both within academic circles and in industry.
Yet Python 2.0 also brought a certain complexity with it: the language evolved quickly, but some design choices from the early years became increasingly difficult to maintain. This led the developers to decide to develop a new, non-backward-compatible version. The goal was to modernize the language, remove inconsistencies, and create a cleaner, more consistent foundation.
That new version, Python 3.0, was released on December 3, 2008. Python 3 explicitly broke with backward compatibility, meaning that old Python 2 code would not work automatically without adjustment. Important changes included the integration of Unicode as the standard for text processing, the simplification of the class hierarchy (particularly the introduction of "new-style classes" as the only standard), and the revision of the print statement into a function (print() instead of a statement). Although this break caused much discussion in the community, Python 3 was ultimately seen as a necessary step for the future of the language.
The transition from Python 2 to Python 3 took years. Many companies and open source projects continued to work on Python 2 longer due to dependencies and development inertia. Only on January 1, 2020, was official support for Python 2 ended, forcing developers to migrate to Python 3. This transition marked the end of an era and the complete consolidation of Python 3 as the standard version.
An important figure in the history of Python is Guido van Rossum. He was the lead developer from the start and held the role of "Benevolent Dictator For Life" (BDFL), an informal title indicating that he had the final say over technical decisions within the project. His leadership was decisive for the consistency and direction of the language. On July 12, 2018, he stepped down as BDFL. This moment marked a turning point: Python would henceforth be managed by a group of developers rather than a single individual, emphasizing the community nature of the project.
Although the core of Python is an interpreter, many tools have been developed to make working with Python more efficient. One of these is pip, a package manager for Python. pip is used to install external libraries and modules that are not included by default in Python. The commands pip and pip3 refer to the same functionality, with pip3 explicitly targeting Python 3. pip can install packages from the Python Package Index (PyPI), work with version control systems such as Git, and ensure that all dependencies of a project are downloaded before installation begins, preventing partial or failed installations.
In addition to pip, there are other tools specifically developed for managing Python code at the system level. py3compile is a tool that converts Python 3 source code into bytecode (.pyc files), which can improve execution speed by reducing code interpretation during repeated execution. py3clean, on the other hand, removes these compiled .pyc and .pyo files, which is useful during maintenance, debugging, or when you want to ensure that code is recompiled.
Python is used at various levels. At an intermediate level, programmers write Python scripts for data analysis and automation. Typical applications include reading and writing files, such as text files, CSV files via the pandas library, and JSON data. With pandas, large datasets can be read in, filtered, merged, and summarized using functions such as head() and describe(). JSON files are often used for configuration or data exchange and can be easily processed with the built-in json module.
At an advanced level, Python is used for building web APIs with frameworks such as FastAPI. FastAPI is modern, fast, and supports async programming, making it suitable for high-performance applications. It integrates well with databases via SQLAlchemy and supports validation through Pydantic models. Additionally, Python is widely used in the context of artificial intelligence, where APIs from providers such as OpenAI (GPT models) and Anthropic (Claude) are called to generate text, create embeddings, or build RAG systems (Retrieval-Augmented Generation). These systems combine external data storage with language models to generate accurate and contextual answers.
In summary, Python has grown from a personal project by Guido van Rossum in 1989 to one of the most widely used programming languages in the world. With strong roots in the Netherlands, a clear philosophy of readability, and a vibrant community, Python continues to play a central role in modern software development, data science, automation, and AI. It lacks stories about unnamed groups or fabricated scenes — the story of Python is technical, factual, and based on available sources. The development of the language follows a path of continuous improvement, community-driven evolution, and technical dedication.