Guido van Rossum

Python (programming language)

Python is a dynamically typed, whitespace-delimited programming language conceived by Guido van Rossum in December 1989 as a successor to ABC. Its first release was Python 0.9.0 in 1991. It introduced a strict visual grammar for code blocks, paired dynamic typing with reference counting and cycle detection for memory management, and codified its philosophy in PEP 20. Python 3.0 (2008) broke backward compatibility. Optional static typing arrived in 3.5. Van Rossum named it after Monty Python's Flying Circus and wrote the first interpreter as a Christmas holiday project.