[comp.lang.misc] Python 1.0.0 is out!
Guido van Rossum
--> Tired of decyphering the Perl code you wrote last week?
--> Frustrated with Bourne shell syntax?
--> Spent too much time staring at core dumps lately?
Maybe you should try Python, the next generation object-oriented
scripting and prototyping language, with a *readable* syntax. Python
has been used by hundreds of happy users all over the world during the
past three years, and is now ready for prime time.
Python is an interpreted language, and has the usual advantages of
such languages, such as run-time checks (e.g. bounds checking),
execution of dynamically generated code, automatic memory allocation,
high level operations on strings, lists and dictionaries (associative
arrays), and a fast edit-compile-run cycle. Additionally, it features
modules, classes, exceptions, and dynamic linking of extensions
written in C or C++. It has arbitrary precision integers.
Python can be run interactively, and there is an extensive Emacs
editing mode which includes the capability to execute regions of code.
For the truly desperate there is a source level debugger (written in
Python, of course :-).
Python comes with a large library of standard modules and classes, as
well as an extensive set of demo programs. It has interfaces to most
Unix system calls and library functions, and there exist extensions
that interface to window systems and graphics libraries like X and
SGI's GL.
Python's source (in C) and documentation (in LaTeX and PostScript) are
freely available on the Internet. It builds without intervention on
most Unix platforms: error-free builds have been confirmed for SGI
IRIX 4 and 5, Sun SunOS 4 and Solaris 2, HP-UX, DEC Ultrix and OSF/1,
IBM AIX, and SCO ODT 3.0. A Macintosh binary is also available -- a
DOS binary is in the works.
If you have a WWW viewer (e.g. Mosaic), you can see all Python
documentation on-line: point your viewer at the URL
http://www.cwi.nl/~guido/Python.html.
The source and documentation are available by anonymous ftp from the
following sites -- please pick the one closest to you:
Site IP address Directory
ftp.cwi.nl 192.16.184.180 /pub/python
gatekeeper.dec.com 16.1.0.2 /pub/plan/python/cwi
ftp.uu.net 192.48.96.9 /languages/python
ftp.fu-berlin.de 130.133.4.50 /pub/unix/languages/python
The file is called python1.0.0.tar.Z (some mirror sites convert it to
a .gz file or split it up in separate parts). See the INDEX file for
other goodies: FAQ, NEWS, PostScript, Emacs info, Mac binary, etc.
(Please don't ask me to mail it to you -- at 1.76 Megabytes it is
unwieldy at least...)
There's a mailing list; write to <pytho...@cwi.nl> to subscribe (no
LISTSERV commands please). A FAQ list is regularly posted to
comp.lang.misc. A newsgroup may be created in the near future.
[Excuse the hype -- Python really is a neat language, if I may say so.
Please direct all followups to comp.lang.misc only.]
--Guido van Rossum, CWI, Amsterdam <Guido.va...@cwi.nl>
URL: <http://www.cwi.nl/cwi/people/Guido.van.Rossum.html>