Page 1 - Lesson Note-Introduction to Python
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Introduction to Python




               Python
                   ➢  Most trending programming languages in 2020.
                   ➢  Known for its simplistic, concise and modular approach
                   ➢  Free and open source
                   ➢  Has varied uses

               History of Python
                   ➢  Python was first introduced by Guido Van Rossum in 1991 at the National Research
                       Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science, Netherlands.
                   ➢  Though the language was introduced in 1991, the development began in the 1980s.
                       Previously van Rossum worked on the ABC language at Centrum Wiskunde &
                       Informatica (CWI) in the Netherlands.
                   ➢  The ABC language was capable of exception handling and interfacing with
                       the Amoeba operating system. Inspired by the language, Van Rossum first tried out
                       making his own version of it.
                   ➢  Including all the features of the ABC language like the simplicity, that he personally
                       liked. Furthermore, he improved the other features that he didn’t like as well as put
                       in some interesting ones.

               Why the Name Python?
                   ➢  Python developer, Rossum always wanted the name of his new language to be short,
                       unique, and mysterious.
                   ➢  Inspired by Monty Python’s Flying Circus, a BBC comedy series, he named it Python.

               Version-Releases and Developments
                   ➢  Python 0.9.0 was the first version ever. Being a successor of the ABC language,
                       Python 0.9.0 also came up with the concept of classes, lists, and strings. And more
                       importantly, it included lambda, map, filter and reduce, which aligned it heavily to
                       functional programming.
                   ➢  Python 1.2 was the last version developed by the CWI team. Consequently, Van
                       Rossum moved to the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) in Reston,
                       Virginia and worked on the project releasing a number of further improvements
                       until Python 1.6.
                   ➢  In 2000, Guido van Rossum with other developers formed the BeOpen PythonLabs.
                       Noteworthy, the BeOpen team released only one version of the language,
                       the Python 2.0. After this, the Python Software Foundation (PSF), a non-profit
                       organization, came into the scene and took the responsibility of Python Licenses,
                       Fundraising, development, and management of the community as well as
                       the PyCon conferences.
                   ➢  Python 3.0 was released in the month of December 2008. It included various
                       changes over Python 2.0. The modification of the print statement was most
                       noteworthy. Now it looks like ‘print()’.
                   ➢  With the release of further versions, Python is always getting bigger and better.
                       The latest release was of the Python 3.9.0, which showed up in December of 2020.
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