Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language. It is often compared to Tcl, Perl, or Scheme (although the usefulness of such comparisons is questionable...).
Python combines remarkable power with very clear syntax. It has modules, classes, exceptions, very high level dynamic data types, and dynamic typing. There are interfaces to many system calls and libraries, as well as to various windowing systems (X11, Motif, Tk, Mac, MFC, STDWIN). New built-in modules are easily written in in C or C++. Python is also usable as an extension language for applications that need a programmable interface.
The Python implementation is portable: it runs on many brands of UNIX, on the Mac, and on OS/2, MS-DOS and Windows (3.1 as well as NT, and rumored for 95 as well).
Python is copyrighted but freely usable and distributable, even for commercial use.
The full Python documentation is on-line as hypertext:
(Currently, these are all previews of the documentation for version 1.2. This release is not yet available officially, but can be previewed in beta test form.)Source and documentation, as well as binaries for Macintosh and PC platforms and lots of other goodies, are available by anonymous ftp from several sites:
There's a newsgroup for discussion of Python-related subjects: comp.lang.python. There's also a mailing list, which contains exactly the same messages as the newsgroup. To join the mailing list, send mail to python-list-request@cwi.nl (a human reads the mail, so no LISTSERV or Majordomo commands please!).
A hypermail archive of the newsgroup and mailing list also exists -- try it here!
Python owes much to ABC, a language developed in the eighties at CWI.
The Second Python Workshop will be held on May (22)23-25 at the USGS facility in Menlo Park, California, U.S.A.
The First Python Workshop was held on November 1-3, 1994, at NIST in Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S.A.
At the first Python Workshop, efforts began towards the creation of the Python Software Association, which will provide services to users and producers of Python software. You are encouraged to review the drafts of the PSA's Strategy Document, Mission Statement, Charter and the proposed Bylaws. There's also a proposal for a Copyright Statement to which software branded by the PSA should conform. (The core Python software's copyright won't change.)
The PSA Steering Committee will meet the evening of May 22 at the Second Python Workshop in Menlo Park, CA.