Who doesn’t love a good story? My favourite is the one about the moth that was trapped in a relay on an
electromechanical computer which fried the circuits ultimately giving birth to the term “computer bug”?
The person who coined the term was the amazing Grace Hopper. – Hopper was a computer scientist,
mathematician, and navy admiral. She also helped develop a compiler which was a precursor to
COBOL… honestly, there are several books written about the storied life of the Queen of Computer
Code. Grab one and enjoy the read.
Another great story centers around the programming language Python. Did you know Python originated
as a hobby project to keep Dutch Programmer Guido Van Rossum busy during Christmas break? Some
of us bake Christmas cookies, and others develop game-changing programming languages. Basically,
Van Rossum wanted to develop a new programming language that appealed to Unix/C Hackers and was
a descendant of the scripting language ABC. Voilà! Python was created. To the surprise of most, Rossum
named the language after the famous British TV Show Monty Python’s Flying Circus as he was a big fan
of the series. Now, Python can ship in seven different flavours and was one of the nine languages that
influenced Javascript. But what makes it the second most used programming language amongst
developers?
Python is driving software by enabling faster and more efficient prototyping and development. Python is
the most popular, powerful and versatile programming language of today. It is flexible, open source, and
supported by a large community. Using Python, you can create games, websites and data analysis
applications as well as perform a plethora of scientific calculations because its syntax is relatively simple
compared to other coding languages like Java, PHP, and C.
Python is more widely adopted than ever before because it’s a simple yet powerful general-purpose
programming language. It has efficient high-level data structures and an effective approach to
object-oriented programming. Python’s dynamic typing, combined with its interpreted nature, makes it
an ideal language for scripting and rapid application development in many areas on most platforms. Its
versatility makes it ideal for a wide range of tasks including web development, machine learning and AI.
Another notable soundbite. Google’s adoption of the Python language way back in 2006 and its use for
many applications and platforms has been ongoing ever since. Much institutional effort and money have
been spent to train and promote Python at Google. They even have a dedicated Python portal. The list
of support tools and documentation for the Python language continues to grow in the world of
developers.
With so many factors working in its favour, Python will not suffer the same fate as old legacy system
residents like Ada and Pascal and it isn’t going away anytime soon. Python’s reach and importance have
extended far beyond what Rossum ever possibly could have envisioned for the language. In the
meantime, let’s all be grateful his favourite TV show wasn’t Coronation Street. Great show! Just a little
too “Monarchy” for a programming language, don’t you think?
Anyway, I’m off to join the flying circus.