Summary
How long have you used Python? 10 years or longer? Please tell us how you first heard of the language, how you first used it, and how you helped develop it (if you did). More recent reminiscences are welcome too!

I'm writing a paper on Python for the ACM History Of Programming Languages conference (HOPL-III). This is getting me in a bit of a nostalgic mood. Python is 16 years old now -- it can't vote yet, but it can drive a car! (At least in the US :-)

The paper will be filled with my memories of the early days, but a reviewer reminded me that the memories of other early developers might also be very useful material for the paper! Even if I don't use your story for the paper, others might enjoy reading it, so this is a call for all old-timers to write up their oldest Python memories.

It doesn't have to be a complete well-written story: just a few pointers or names and events (and dates, if you remember them!) could be very useful, too.

If you don't feel comfortable following up here, feel free to send me a personal email. I will only use material for the paper with explicit permission.

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About the Blogger

Guido van Rossum is the creator of Python, one of the major programming languages on and off the web. The Python community refers to him as the BDFL (Benevolent Dictator For Life), a title straight from a Monty Python skit. He moved from the Netherlands to the USA in 1995, where he met his wife. Until July 2003 they lived in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC with their son Orlijn, who was born in 2001. They then moved to Silicon Valley where Guido now works for Google (spending 50% of his time on Python!).