Biography:Guido van Rossum

From HandWiki
Short description: Dutch programmer and creator of Python
Guido van Rossum
Guido-portrait-2014-drc.jpg
Van Rossum at the Dropbox headquarters in 2014
Born (1956-01-31) 31 January 1956 (age 68)[1]
The Hague,[2] Netherlands
NationalityDutch
Alma materUniversity of Amsterdam
OccupationComputer programmer, author
EmployerMicrosoft
Known forCreating the Python programming language
Spouse(s)
Kim Knapp (m. 2000)
Children1[3]
AwardsAward for the Advancement of Free Software (2001)
Websitegvanrossum.github.io
Van Rossum at the 2008 Google I/O Developer's Conference
Van Rossum at the 2006 O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON)

Guido van Rossum (Dutch: [ˈɣido vɑn ˈrɔsʏm, -səm]; born 31 January 1956) is a Dutch programmer best known as the creator of the Python programming language, for which he was the "benevolent dictator for life" (BDFL) until he stepped down from the position on 12 July 2018.[4][5] He remained a member of the Python Steering Council through 2019, and withdrew from nominations for the 2020 election.[6]

Life and education

Van Rossum was born and raised in the Netherlands, where he received a master's degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Amsterdam in 1982. He received a bronze medal in 1974 in the International Mathematical Olympiad.[7] He has a brother, Just van Rossum, who is a type designer and programmer who designed the typeface used in the "Python Powered" logo.[8]

Van Rossum lives in Belmont, California, with his wife, Kim Knapp,[9] and their son.[10][11][12] According to his home page and Dutch naming conventions, the "van" in his name is capitalized when he is referred to by surname alone, but not when using his first and last name together.[13]

Work

Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica

While working at the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), Van Rossum wrote and contributed a glob() routine to BSD Unix in 1986[14][15] and helped develop the ABC programming language. He once stated, "I try to mention ABC's influence because I'm indebted to everything I learned during that project and to the people who worked on it."[16] He also created Grail, an early web browser written in Python, and engaged in discussions about the HTML standard.[17]

He has worked for various research institutes, including the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in the Netherlands, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technolox and officially retired.[18][19][20]

Microsoft

In October 2019, Van Rossum officially retired before coming out of retirement the following year to join Microsoft. He currently holds the title Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft.[21]

On 12 November 2020 Van Rossum announced that he was coming out of retirement to join the Developer Division at Microsoft.[22][23]

1989 Python

In December 1989, Van Rossum had been looking for a "'hobby' programming project that would keep [him] occupied during the week around Christmas" as his office was closed when he decided to write an interpreter for a "new scripting language [he] had been thinking about lately: a descendant of ABC that would appeal to Unix/C hackers". He attributes choosing the name "Python" to "being in a slightly irreverent mood (and a big fan of Monty Python's Flying Circus)".[24]

He has explained that Python's predecessor, ABC, was inspired by SETL, noting that ABC co-developer Lambert Meertens had "spent a year with the SETL group at NYU before coming up with the final ABC design".[25]

On 12 July 2018, Van Rossum announced that he would be stepping down from the position of BDFL of the Python programming language.[26]

1999 "Computer Programming for Everybody" proposal

In 1999, Van Rossum submitted a funding proposal to DARPA called "Computer Programming for Everybody", in which he further defined his goals for Python:

  • An easy and intuitive language just as powerful as major competitors
  • Open source, so anyone can contribute to its development
  • Code that is as understandable as plain English
  • Suitability for everyday tasks, allowing for short development times

In 2019, Python became the second most popular language on GitHub, the largest source code management website on the internet, second only to JavaScript.[27] According to a programming language popularity survey[28] it is consistently among the top 10 most mentioned languages in job postings. Furthermore, Python has been among the 10 most popular programming languages every year since 2004 according to the TIOBE Programming Community Index and got the number one spot on the index in October 2021.[29]

Awards

  • At the 2002 FOSDEM conference in Brussels, Van Rossum received the 2001 Award for the Advancement of Free Software from the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for his work on Python.
  • In May 2003, he received a NLUUG Award.[30]
  • In 2006, he was recognized as a Distinguished Engineer by the Association for Computing Machinery.
  • In 2018, he was made a Fellow of the Computer History museum.[31]
  • In 2019, he was awarded the honorary title of Dijkstra Fellow by CWI.[32]

References

  1. ↑ van Rossum, Guido (31 January 2007). "(Python-Dev) Happy Birthday, Guido!". Python-Dev mailing list. http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2007-January/070849.html. 
  2. ↑ Hsu, Hansen (2018-04-05). "2018 Museum Fellow Guido van Rossum, Python Creator & Benevolent Dictator for Life". http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/2018-chm-fellow-guido-van-rossum-python-creator-benevolent-dictator-for-life/. 
  3. ↑ "Guido van Rossum". CodeCall Programming Wiki. http://wiki.codecall.net/Guido_van_Rossum. 
  4. ↑ "Benevolent dictator for life". Linux Format. 1 February 2005. http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=10. 
  5. ↑ "Transfer of power". https://www.mail-archive.com/python-committers@python.org/msg05628.html. 
  6. ↑ "Steering Council nomination: Guido van Rossum (2020 term)". 27 November 2019. https://discuss.python.org/t/steering-council-nomination-guido-van-rossum-2020-term/2657/11. 
  7. ↑ "International Mathematical Olympiad". https://www.imo-official.org/participant_r.aspx?id=10303. 
  8. ↑ Thomas, Jockin (May 28, 2016). "Learning Python Makes You A Better Designer: An Interview with Just van Rossum". Medium. https://medium.com/type-thursday/learning-python-makes-you-a-better-designer-an-interview-with-just-van-rossum-8d4758c192d8/. 
  9. ↑ Manheimer, Ken (6 June 2000). "(Python-Dev) Guido and Kim married". Python-Dev -- Python core developers. http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2000-June/004497.html. 
  10. ↑ "Guido van Rossum - Brief Bio". https://www.python.org/~guido/bio.html. 
  11. ↑ "(Mailman-Announce) forwarded message from Guido van Rossum". http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-announce/2000-May/000010.html. "Oh, and to top it all off, I'm going on vacation. I'm getting married and will be relaxing on my honeymoon." 
  12. ↑ van Rossum, Guido. "What's New in Python?". "Not your usual list of new features". Stanford CSL Colloquium, 29 October 2003; BayPiggies, 13 November 2003. Elemental Security. http://csg.csail.mit.edu/6.893/Handouts/PythonWhatsNew.pdf. 
  13. ↑ van Rossum, Guido. "Guido's Personal Home Page". https://gvanrossum.github.io/. 
  14. ↑ "'Globbing' library routine". http://www.isc.org/sources/devel/func/glob.txt. 
  15. ↑ "File::Glob - Perl extension for BSD glob routine". metacpan.org. https://metacpan.org/module/File::Glob. 
  16. ↑ Venners, Bill. "The Making of Python". http://www.artima.com/intv/pythonP.html. 
  17. ↑ "Re: xmosaic experience". http://1997.webhistory.org/www.lists/www-talk.1993q1/0184.html. 
  18. ↑ @gvanrossum. "It's bittersweet: I'm leaving @dropbox, and am now retired. I've learned a lot during my time as an engineer here -- e.g. type annotations came from this experience -- and I'll miss working here.". https://twitter.com/gvanrossum/status/1189546865114529792.  Missing or empty |date= (help)
  19. ↑ "Thank you, Guido". Dropbox. https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/company/thank-you--guido. 
  20. ↑ Tung, Liam (31 October 2019). "Python programming language creator retires, saying: 'It's been an amazing ride'" (in en). ZDNet. https://www.zdnet.com/article/python-programming-language-creator-retires-saying-its-been-an-amazing-ride/. 
  21. ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/guido-van-rossum-4a0756/ [self-published source]
  22. ↑ @gvanrossum. "I decided that retirement was boring and have joined the Developer Division at Microsoft. To do what? Too many options to say! But it’ll make using Python better for sure (and not just on Windows :-). There’s lots of open source here. Watch this space.". https://twitter.com/gvanrossum/status/1326932991566700549.  Missing or empty |date= (help)
  23. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (12 November 2020). "Python creator Guido van Rossum joins Microsoft". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/12/python-creator-guido-van-rossum-joins-microsoft/. 
  24. ↑ "Foreword for "Programming Python" (1st ed.)". https://www.python.org/doc/essays/foreword/. 
  25. ↑ "Python-Dev] SETL (was: Lukewarm about range literals)". http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2000-August/008881.html. 
  26. ↑ Fairchild, Carlie (July 12, 2018). "Guido van Rossum Stepping Down from Role as Python's Benevolent Dictator For Life" (in en). Linux Journal. https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/guido-van-rossum-stepping-down-role-pythons-benevolent-dictator-life. 
  27. ↑ "The State of the Octoverse" (in en-gb). https://octoverse.github.com/. 
  28. ↑ "Programming Language Popularity". http://langpop.com/. 
  29. ↑ "index | TIOBE - The Software Quality Company". https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/. 
  30. ↑ "Guido van Rossum Ontvangt NLUUG Award". NLUUG. 28 May 2003. https://www.nluug.nl/vereniging/persberichten/009.html. 
  31. ↑ "Guido van Rossum" (in en). Computer History Museum. http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/guido-van-rossum/. 
  32. ↑ "David Chaum and Guido van Rossum awarded Dijkstra Fellowship". https://www.cwi.nl/news/2019/david-chaum-and-guido-van-rossum-awarded-dijkstra-fellowship. 

External links




Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Biography:Guido_van_Rossum&oldid=2661715"