Mark Lutz's Python advocacy page

Old Stuff Warning

This page is mostly from the 1990s and is embarrassingly old and out of date. I stopped updating it early in 2000 due to lack of time — too much began happening in the Python world after that to document usefully here. I'm retaining this and a few other ancient pages here as historic artifacts only, because they seem to reflect some of the very early Python community spirit.

For up-to-date information on my Python books or Python training classes, please see my books page, and its recent highlights. For current news on Python itself, see the introductory chapter of Learning Python available as a book sampler here.

Python Rising
News from the advocacy front

This page represents a first step towards a more complete Python advocacy page. There is some very good news in the Python world, and this is my attempt to document some of it. Eventually, this page may include links to everything exciting related to Python, whether free or not--products, services, books, testimonials, magazine articles, and so on. For now, it's nowhere near complete. Please see python.org for more advocacy links. And if you're looking for a more recent list of published Python books, try clicking here.

--The Marketing Department :-)

Items added in early 2000

Alas, this page has grown to the point of unmaintainability. Since I have no time to organize it better, I've simply grouped all the most recent advocacy announcements into this one section. Enjoy.

The May 2000 Linux Journal features a Python supplement with articles by Python creator Guido van Rossum and open-source evangelist Eric Raymond; the cover shot shows a naked individual seated outdoors in front of a keyboard (a politically questionable Monty Python reference). More details available here.
Python shows up in the Doctor Fun cartoon, here.
Python was recently awarded the Jolt Productivity Award in the Languages and Development Environments category, by Software Development Magazine (March 2000). See the announcement here.
A report on the Python activity at the Software Development 2000 conference (see below) shows up on the O'Reilly Network site: here.
Speaking of the O'Reilly Network site: it recently launched a new Python forum called the Python DevCenter, for discussion of all things Python.
See also the coverage of a Software Development 2000 panel discussion here. Among other things, it quotes one panelist as stating that Python is "the most efficient language I've ever used. It's 10 times better than any of the other tools I have used. It's free, it's object-oriented, it adapts to everything, it runs on everything. There is almost an indescribable, 'quality without a name' attraction on my part."
Jon Udell, Byte editor, compares Python and Perl in an online article on byte.com, available here. It is titled "A Perl Hacker in the Land of Python."
Python creator Guido van Rossum will give a keynote address on the Python-based CP4E project, at the Software Development 2000 conference in San Jose, in March 2000. The conference will also host Python tutorials.
Software Development magazine posted an online article in February about prototyping in Python, with a focus on scripting with Python on MS-Windows. The article is available here.
Paul Prescod writes about some of the reasons he prefers Python over certain other scripting languages, in an article posted by O'Reilly. The article is available here.
O'Reilly Editor in Chief Frank Willison chronicles the latest Foretec Python conference, at this page. The conference has been roughly doubling in size each year; this year's event drew 250 attendees despite a major blizzard in DC.
ActiveState, a major Perl tools company, announced that they will also begin supporting Python, at this page. Like Hewlett-Packard and other companies, ActiveState has also joined the Python consortium, and has hired two key Python players, David Ascher (my co-author on Learning Python), and Mark Hammond (Python Windows guru and co-author of O'Reilly's new book Python Programming on Win32).
The new Python jobs board at python.org is getting busy. Yes, you can now get paid to have fun programming Python (just don't mention the fun part during the interview).
A new Sunworld Online article explores Python's growing popularity.
The May 2000 issue of the Linux Journal will include a Python supplement. You can request a free copy online.
The February 2000 edition of Dr Dobb's Journal includes a story on Python Server Pages.
See my Python Books Page for some of the most recent Python books to hit the shelves. We're close to having a dozen Python books on the market, with more on the way.
Python creator Guido van Rossum has received a grant for a multi-year project called Computer Programming for Everybody. CP4E aims to make Python the language of choice for people who have never programmed before, and will likely yield new development tools. Given that the project will also investigate the ways that school children learn to program, it may also produce game-development tools for Python (my son would love to be a beta site).
Greg Wilson has also received an arguably large pile of money to investigate ways to use Python as the implementation language for a new suite of software development tools. Los Alamos is behind this effort. As part of this multi-year project, he is organizing a Software Carpentry contest, with cash prizes; see this page.
Zope, an open-source web applicatons development framework built with and extended in Python, continues to attract funding and industry interest. Zope is a web application server sometimes compared to Cold Fusion and Lotus Notes, but is freely available. O'Reilly already has plans to publish a book about Zope this year; see this page for a Zope overview.
A leading Python trainer (well, me) has joined forces with Tom Christiansen's elite Perl training organization, to provide Python classes held in Boulder, Colorado. These classes are open to individuals on a first-come first-served basis. See this page for a session overview, and this page for additional details. Classes are scheduled for February and May 2000 so far.
O'Reilly will host their second Python conference in July 2000, in Monterey, California, as part of their second Open Source Software Convention. See this page for early details. This conference provides an opportunity to meet leaders from all Open Source communities at a single event.
Recent interviews of Python creator Guido van Rossum, available online: here, and here.
Sweden-based Pythonware plans to release a Python development environment IDE called PythonWorks later this year. See this page for details. Among other things, their product will include point-and-click GUI design tools.

Publications news

An explosion of new Python books: There are at least 10 new Python books on the way in the '99-'00 timeframe! I've begun keeping a list at this page.
A handful of recent items, which I would organize better if I had the time:
- A new online introductory article about Python: here
- Guido van Rossum is on the cover of the June '99 Dr. Dobbs Journal; they awarded him an excellence in programming award: here
- O'Reilly published Learning Python in April, '99, as described on this site: here
- An introductory Python article available online, in LinuxWorld: here
- The April '99 Dr. Dobb's Journal has an article on JPython, which focuses on testing components with Python: here
- Python and Guido van Rossum made the front page of the Washington Post, in an article about Eric Raymond and Open Source: here
- Python is mentioned in an Open Source article from Tim O'Reilly; it estimates 325,000 current Python users: here
- A summary of this year's Python conference ("IPC7"), at the new Python Journal website: here
- The December JavaPro magazine has an article about Python, and JPython (the Java-based implementation of Python): here
Guido van Rossum on the cover of Linux Journal: The November '98 issue of the Linux Journal features a picture of Python creator Guido van Rossum on the cover, along with an interview of Guido and an article about Python's HTMLgen utility inside.
Python article in Jan '99 ;login: There will be a 7-page Python overview article in the January, 1998 issue of ;login: magazine (the USENIX organization's magazine). It's an excerpt from the Python chapter I wrote for the Handbook of Programming Languages.
Python popularity in Japan: Described elsewhere on this site: O'Reilly has released the Japanese translation of Programming Python. I haven't kept track of sales lately, but the first volume reached number 5 on the computer books best-sellers list the week after it was released. Volume 2 of the translation is now available too. See either my description page or O'Reilly Japan's page for details and a look at the cover.
Python at O'Reilly's Open Source summit: Exciting things are happening in the freeware world. The online magazine "Web Review" recently put out a special edition with coverage of the Open Source summit which Guido van Rossum (Python's creator) attended. It's available online, here. A few subpages of interest:
Python in a Perl book: Python gets a good amount of coverage in O'Reilly's new book, "Advanced Perl Programming" (check the index for "Python"). I'm not what you'd call the world's biggest Perl fan, but this is a good book, and compares Perl with other tools like Python fairly.
JPython article at developer.com: Guido van Rossum recently wrote an overview article about JPython--a new alternative implementation of Python, which makes Python an ideal scripting language for Java-based Web applications. The article is available at developer.com's online site: click here.
Python chapter in a languages text: Described elsewhere on this site: a 120-page Python chapter was recently published in the Handbook of Programming Languages, from Macmillan (August 1998). The chapter works as another introduction to Python, Python/C integration, and peripheral Python tools.
A new online introduction: SunWorld Online recently published an arguably fantastic article about Python, in their February '98 issue. It's available online here.
Recent magazine articles: Some of the more recent Python magazine articles:
- The November Linux Journal features two Python articles (see note above).
- The November C/C++ Users Journal includes an article about the SWIG wrapper-code generator, which uses Python as the example scripting language.
- The June "BYTE" has a great article on scripting languages, with overviews of Python, Tcl, and Perl.
- The May "Linux Journal" includes an article about the Python database API (portable to variety of database systems).
- The April "Software Development" includes an article on scripting languages which is very favorable to Python.
- The February "Dr. Dobb's Journal" features three Python-related articles in an issue devoted to scripting languages.
- The February "Web Techniques" has a nice article about using Python for web scripting work.
See www.python.org for more details (I only update this list once in awhile). Want to write an article yourself? See Andrew Kuchling's editorial calendars page.
More books on the way: O'Reilly plans to roll out two (or more) new Python books soon: Learning Python, and the Python Pocket Reference (described elsewhere on this site). See my What's New? page for updates on both. We're also starting to talk about updating Programming Python, but it probably won't happen any time soon (unless I can figure out how to clone myself). Also possible soon: Fredrik Lundh's book (which includes advanced Tk GUI topics), and another Python book under development ("Quick Python", to be published by Manning).
Python review in DDJ: Programming Python is reviewed in the November issue of "Dr. Dobb's Journal". The text of the review is available online, here. He likes the book, but is less optimistic about Python's future prospects than some (which I see more as a challenge than a prognosis). Update: There's another review at www.usenix.org (;login), but you need to be a USENIX member to see it.

Other advocacy news