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Interview With Python Creator Guido Van Rossum (techrocket.com)

The online programming school Tech Rocket just published a new interview with Guido van Rossum, the creator of Python. "Looking back I don't think I ever really doubted Python, and I always had fun," he tells the site. "I had a lot of doubts about myself, but Python's ever-increasing success, and encouragement from people to whom I looked up (even Larry Wall!), made me forget that."

He describes what it's like being Python's Benevolent Dictator for Life, and says that the most astonishing thing he's seen built with Python is "probaby the Dropbox server. Two million lines of code and counting, and it serves hundreds of millions of users." And he leaves aspiring programmers with this advice. "Don't do something you don't enjoy just because it looks lucrative -- that's where the competition will be fiercest, and because you don't enjoy it, you'll lose out to others who are more motivated."

4 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. Re: Why in the heck should a file server need 2M l by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because he understands the problem Dropbox is trying to solve better than you do.

  2. Re:Why in the heck should a file server need 2M li by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He meant to say 2 million functions in one line of code.

    We're talking about python, not perl.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  3. Re:Python community so much nicer than Rust's? by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What I'm most curious about is why the Python community is so much nicer to deal with than the Rust programming language's community.

    In my limited experience in the VFX world it's because people using Python are focused on actually creating usable products that solve people's problems. And I use the word "people" not "developers" in this instance because a lot of them are "non-programmers" solving problems that they themselves face. Python is a tool to them to make their lives better.

  4. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion