It's not the beginning of the end. Retirement is not a death sentence. Lots of folks go on to do some of the best work of their lives... not that Guido hasn't already done plenty of that.
I’m sure he’s going to take a break from the chaos of being at a unicorn in SF and the departure from BDFL, spend some time in the woods reading books and getting ready for the next thing. He’s got plenty of cash (presumably) so hopefully finances are not a source of concern. Then the itch will come and hopefully he will be poised to scratch it.
> Thank you Guido, after learning Python, I never looked back
That matches my experience. All the pros and cons that in principle apply to any language, whether newer than Python or older, mean nothing to me in practice. Python is the one that feels right, the others feel like a chore. Since I started with Python 10 years ago, nothing has changed that.
There's ways I'll insist that Python is the best at [x], and ways I'll concede some other language is better at [y]. But it never amounts to anything close to a debate about what language I should use.
There are a lot of times where Python is an inappropriate language choice. Anytime you have concurrency for instance. Definitely any time you need to distribute an application directly to an end user.
Beyond times when Python is clearly wrong, there are other issues, mainly around tooling and documentation. Languages have come a long way in the past 20 years.
"But it never amounts to anything close to a debate about what language I should use."
So if your task was to deliver let's say commercial grade FFT library ( substitute with any other long computationally extensive process ) for consumption by others you would write it in Python?
I hated C++ and Matlab as an undergraduate. Hell, I hated programming as a whole - and effectively swear never to write a line of code once I was done with my BSc in Physics.
Then, at work, I was introduced to Python. It was so...obvious, for lack of a better world. It was like a language I always knew that never spoke before.
I'm now a software engineer, write Python almost all day, and looking back to the 18-year old version of myself, I would only say "if only you knew".
That, and more, is what people like Guido and those who followed his path enable people like me to do: enjoy the art of programming.
Thanks Guido, and enjoy your well-deserved retirement.
Interesting. I myself come form an Software Engineering background, and started programming very young in Logo (a LISP derivate), then BASIC, C, C++, Java, Ruby and a bunch of others. I have hated programming in Python every time I have had to do it (several times through my career). It I think the only language that I have really hated ... the language itself. I've done Z80 and 8086 assembly, I've done Prolog, I've done Pascal, VB, VB.net, C#, R, Matlab, JavaScript, ActionScript and even Z (formal language) but no other language has made me swear at it haha.
I think it is about the thinking process of the person, I assume you are >35, you grew up at a time that people were think about the performance more than the readability, that was the bottleneck back then.
Now that you have bigger systems and more complex requirements and cheap high performance computing, the balance is tipped.
And because python is (almost) on the opposite side of the spectrum for your thinking process, you might have a harder time wrapping your head around why it does something in a particular way.
I think this is also true for Haskell evangelists over here also, I think they started acquiring the programming mindset through advanced math(in my experience most have PhDs) etc., so haskell fits the way they solve a problem in their head the best.
For me personally it is Python, the delay between solving a problem and having it translated to python in my head is slim. You probably feel the same way about your own favourite programming language, because it is the tool that makes you most productive with the least effort.
Have you tried Ruby? It's the most "what you describe" language I've used.
I don't use it because Python's more popular and I'm a slave to fashion and critical mass, but it's so much more easy and expressive than even Python's syntax.
for i in 0..5
I can't believe Python didn't adopt that syntax, which comes from Bash... I surmise it didn't because Python is actually something of the philosophical opposite of Ruby. In Python, there is one way to do things. You use the range() call, so we only use the range() call. In Ruby, the same thing can be done in many different ways. More expressive although a little wild.
This article is a sign of class, well done Dropbox.
I too have to say Thank you Guido. Python 1.5 helped me a lot with several projects way back when. Then I got into Django later, and marvelled at how easy it was to use. Now I use Python (and other things) for AI.
I am sad because of the motivation for Guido leaving the BFDL position, but empathize and understand. I hope he has fair winds and following seas for whatever journey he sails on next.
Language, its community and development model is a reflection of its creator and his philosophy. So Without meeting the creator Guido, through language and its community I can see is very humble and care about things besides solving computer science problems.
May be this is one of the reasons of success of Python and its community which is open, humble, friendly and inclusive.
In my startup we have been using Python as one of the primary development language, and thanks to its community and Guido, we will continue to do so in time to come.
I recently watched a talk by creator of Elm language [1] [2] who is trying to create similar community like Python, I will try it besides lisp, since I like the ethos of Python like community and obviously PEP-20 [3].
From my whole team thanks to Guido, and Python community.
I'll also add "silly." A not-too-serious attitude from day one helps protect a community (IMO). When your language is named after a surrealist comedy troupe it kinda takes the wind out of the sails of moral outrage. Whimsy is surprisingly powerful.
Which is odd to me; I resisted using python much because of the rabid culture around it, and I tried, several times. They didn't get the nickname "pythonistas" for nothing, nor in jest.
It is much, much better of late (I was thrust into a role a year ago where I am doing 95% of my coding in python now). I'm not sure what's changed; I had assumed it was the "core" culturalists were diluted by the influx of ML people, but it is only an assumption.
> For the last several months, Guido and Sushma have been meeting once a week to talk about all things programming. But Sushma says the biggest takeaways were not just about how to do things, but how to become more confident and learn how to figure things out on your own.
The part about Guido personally mentoring women engineers is, despite his (obvious) technical contributions, the most impressive part about his Dropbox tenure to me. The article mentions him leading by example and it's inspiring to see someone of that stature and level of accomplishment willing to spend time with individuals. It's one thing to talk about fostering a welcoming community, it's quite another to offer up his time so generously when he could be doing "higher leverage" things with regards to diversity.
I was fortunate enough to work with Guido, albeit briefly, during my time at Dropbox. He was always a great co-worker. But you definitely didn't have to work directly with him to get to know him, because of his commute choices he was always at work when breakfast was being served (food, the true high point of working at Dropbox) and the intersection of Dropbox culture and Guido's personality meant that it was easy just to go sit at the same table and have breakfast with him and get to know him.
Thank you Guido! At the risk of sounding saccharine, Python has literally made life better for my colleagues and me. In the corporate, financial world where I’ve been working, people often see coding as someone else’s job. Python, and the community that has grown around it, have made programming accessible (socially acceptable?). It has saved months of work for us.
I hope you enjoy whatever you set yourself to next.
Indeed, new joiners in investment banks these days are increasingly expected to know Python at least -- and not just for technology roles, but junior traders and managers as well. For financial services it's the new VBA, but better.
I can only agree. Me and a colleague are the only ones using Python for HR (HRIS) that we know of, but people are very interested when we tell them how we use it for data quality, automation and reporting. There will surely be more in the future.
Someone who worked at Dropbox shared an anecdote. Guido received an email from some recruiter along the line "You seem to have great experience in Python. How many years of experience you have with Python?" To which he replied "All of it!". I am not sure if it is true story.
Haha, reminded me of a time when I had just quit from a company as head of engineering, and a couple of weeks later a new Jr. recruiter for said company sent me one of those generic emails telling me that she liked my LinkedIn profile, and how she would love to talk to me about an open developer position at the company.
I chuckled and forwarded the email to the then head of HR and CEO. I am good friends with both, and I knew they will take it with humor.
I heard a story about when he used to work at Google, he would get pulled into interviews where the candidate was brave enough to write “Python expert” on their resumé. There’s definitely no one better to grill someone on their Python skills than the guy who invented it!
Readit News
And lets be honest, he's earned it.
Thank you Guido, after learning Python, I never looked back, and it has been the source of great joy for me over the last decade.
I’m sure he’s going to take a break from the chaos of being at a unicorn in SF and the departure from BDFL, spend some time in the woods reading books and getting ready for the next thing. He’s got plenty of cash (presumably) so hopefully finances are not a source of concern. Then the itch will come and hopefully he will be poised to scratch it.
I’m sure we’ll see more from him!
That matches my experience. All the pros and cons that in principle apply to any language, whether newer than Python or older, mean nothing to me in practice. Python is the one that feels right, the others feel like a chore. Since I started with Python 10 years ago, nothing has changed that.
There's ways I'll insist that Python is the best at [x], and ways I'll concede some other language is better at [y]. But it never amounts to anything close to a debate about what language I should use.
Beyond times when Python is clearly wrong, there are other issues, mainly around tooling and documentation. Languages have come a long way in the past 20 years.
So if your task was to deliver let's say commercial grade FFT library ( substitute with any other long computationally extensive process ) for consumption by others you would write it in Python?
A carefully controlled message.
PSF now has an elected steering council to replace him.
https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-committers/2018-Jul...
Then, at work, I was introduced to Python. It was so...obvious, for lack of a better world. It was like a language I always knew that never spoke before.
I'm now a software engineer, write Python almost all day, and looking back to the 18-year old version of myself, I would only say "if only you knew".
That, and more, is what people like Guido and those who followed his path enable people like me to do: enjoy the art of programming.
Thanks Guido, and enjoy your well-deserved retirement.
Now that you have bigger systems and more complex requirements and cheap high performance computing, the balance is tipped.
And because python is (almost) on the opposite side of the spectrum for your thinking process, you might have a harder time wrapping your head around why it does something in a particular way.
I think this is also true for Haskell evangelists over here also, I think they started acquiring the programming mindset through advanced math(in my experience most have PhDs) etc., so haskell fits the way they solve a problem in their head the best.
For me personally it is Python, the delay between solving a problem and having it translated to python in my head is slim. You probably feel the same way about your own favourite programming language, because it is the tool that makes you most productive with the least effort.
God that's well put
I don't use it because Python's more popular and I'm a slave to fashion and critical mass, but it's so much more easy and expressive than even Python's syntax.
I can't believe Python didn't adopt that syntax, which comes from Bash... I surmise it didn't because Python is actually something of the philosophical opposite of Ruby. In Python, there is one way to do things. You use the range() call, so we only use the range() call. In Ruby, the same thing can be done in many different ways. More expressive although a little wild.Also, I hate how discussions like this seem to always turn towards small syntactic differences rather than actual differences in functionality.
Yes, coming from Perl that was a huge hit.
I too have to say Thank you Guido. Python 1.5 helped me a lot with several projects way back when. Then I got into Django later, and marvelled at how easy it was to use. Now I use Python (and other things) for AI.
I am sad because of the motivation for Guido leaving the BFDL position, but empathize and understand. I hope he has fair winds and following seas for whatever journey he sails on next.
May be this is one of the reasons of success of Python and its community which is open, humble, friendly and inclusive.
In my startup we have been using Python as one of the primary development language, and thanks to its community and Guido, we will continue to do so in time to come.
I recently watched a talk by creator of Elm language [1] [2] who is trying to create similar community like Python, I will try it besides lisp, since I like the ethos of Python like community and obviously PEP-20 [3].
From my whole team thanks to Guido, and Python community.
[1] https://elm-lang.org/
[2] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uGlzRt-FYto
[3] https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/
It is much, much better of late (I was thrust into a role a year ago where I am doing 95% of my coding in python now). I'm not sure what's changed; I had assumed it was the "core" culturalists were diluted by the influx of ML people, but it is only an assumption.
The part about Guido personally mentoring women engineers is, despite his (obvious) technical contributions, the most impressive part about his Dropbox tenure to me. The article mentions him leading by example and it's inspiring to see someone of that stature and level of accomplishment willing to spend time with individuals. It's one thing to talk about fostering a welcoming community, it's quite another to offer up his time so generously when he could be doing "higher leverage" things with regards to diversity.
I hope you enjoy whatever you set yourself to next.
I chuckled and forwarded the email to the then head of HR and CEO. I am good friends with both, and I knew they will take it with humor.
It is difficult to find good recruiters.