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Python: The Documentary An origin story (Category Software)

#Software #Architecture #Engineering #Leadership #AI #ML #Data

I saw it yesterday. filmmaker How Python went from a side project to a language that rose to the most popular AI revolution:) The film was released in late August and was released by Cult.Repo. (Honeypot)It was directed by Ida Bechtle. The film was funded by Anaconda, banned in Russia Meta, OpenTeams, PyCharm (JetBrains)Quansight. Speaking briefly about the main points, here they are.

  1. The Origins of History at CWI (Amsterdam)and the influence of language ABC and early Internet
  2. First users and industrial successes (NASA, YouTube, Dropbox)
  3. Building a science stack (NumPy/SciPy)
  4. Community Strengths and Crises in the Transition from Python 2 Python 3
  5. Cultural code “The Zen of Python»
  6. Role of inclusive initiatives (for example, PyLadies)
  7. Refusal Guido van Rossuma as BDFL dispute over walrus operator (:=)

Many respected people are mentioned in the credits and official materials: Guido van Rossum, Travis Oliphant, Barry Warsaw, Armin Ronacher, Brett Cannon, Mariatta Wijaya, Jessica McKellar, Steven Pemberton, Lambert Meertens, Sjoerd Mullender, Ken Manheimer, Tim O'Reilly, Ton Roosendaal, Peter Wang, Lisa Guo, Lisa Roach, Paul Everitt, Benjamin Peterson, Robin Friedrich, Drew Houston, (Robert) Kahn et al.

If we draw conclusions from this document, they are

  1. The power of Python is not only in language but also in culture. Simplicity/readability + “Zen of Python” and open engineering ethics set the standard to which both the kernel and the ecosystem were drawn.
  2. The community is the main engine. PyCon, PSF, PyLadies, Volunteer Maintainers and Partner Companies are the fuel for development.
  3. Difficult decisions have a price, but they give a future. The history of migration from v2 to v3 is painful, but it allowed the language to evolve and update the basics. (a dispute PEP 572 Leads to a more sustainable management model).
  4. Python wins over fast libraries. Success in science/AI is due to the fact that the language conveniently combines the world of C/C++/Fortran libraries into a single productive environment. The film highlights this through NumPy/Anaconda/ML stories.
  5. The history of language is the history of people. From the academic labs of CWI and the Usenet era to YouTube/Dropbox, personal choices and local initiatives add up to global outcomes.

In general, the film is very nice and looks interesting, I recommend.

#Software #Architecture #Engineering #Leadership #AI #ML #Data