Python was initially built to automate a distributed operating system called an “amoeba.” Though the Amoeba OS is mostly forgotten, Python has found a home in automating UNIX-like operating systems tasks.
Python wraps the traditional UNIX C API lightly, giving full access to the system calls that run UNIX while making them just a little safer to use: an approach that was dubbed “C with foam padding.” This willingness to wrap low-level operating system APIs has made it a good choice for the wide berth between the programs that UNIX shell is good for, and the programs the C programming language is good for.
As the ...
