Programming Python, Second Edition

Signs of the Python Times

It’s been an exciting five years in the Python world. Since I wrote the first edition of this book between 1995 and 1996, Python has grown from a new kid on the scripting languages block to an established and widely used tool in companies around the world. Although measuring the popularity of an open source (http://opensource.org) and freely distributed tool such as Python is not always easy, most statistics available reveal exponential growth in Python’s popularity over the last five years. Among the most recent signs of Python’s explosive growth:

Books

As I write this in 2001, there are now over a dozen Python books on the market, with almost that many more on the way (in 1995 there were none). Some of these books are focused on a particular domain (e.g., Windows), and some are available in German, French, and Japanese language editions.

Users

In 1999, one leading industry observer suggested that there were as many as 300,000 Python users worldwide, based on various statistics. Other estimates are more optimistic still. In early 2000, for instance, the Python web site was already on track to service 500,000 new Python interpreter downloads by year end (in addition to other Python distribution mediums); this figure is likely closer to the true user-base size as I write this book.

Press

Python is now regularly featured in industry publications. In fact, since 1995, Python creator Guido van Rossum has appeared on the cover of prominent tech magazines such ...