View source for Guido van Rossum

'''Guido van Rossum''' (born 31 January 1956) is a Dutch [[computer programmer]] who is best known as the author of the [[Python programming language]].

== Biography ==

In the Python community, Van Rossum is known as a "Benevolent Dictator For Life" (BDFL), meaning that he continues to oversee the Python development process, making decisions where necessary.

He was employed by Google from 2005 until 7 December 2012, where he spent half his time developing the Python language.

In January 2013, Van Rossum started working for [[Dropbox]].

== Quotations ==

On how he got interested in [[computers]] and [[computer programming]]:

<blockquote>
That’s an interesting story. It was in the mid 70s. I had never heard of computers until my last year in high school. When I went to the [[University of Amsterdam]] with a major in [[mathematics]], there were programming classes and a mainframe computer (a Control Data Corporation Cyber-170) in the basement, and within half a year I was hooked. Within two years I was neglecting my classwork in favor of writing and debugging programs in [[Algol]] and [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]].

I remember writing an implementation of [[Conway's Game of Life]] in [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]] that produced output on the line printer. I used Pascal's sets, which were mapped to the hardware’s unique 60-bit word size, and implemented very fast bitwise and/or/shift operations, which I used to implement essentially the digital circuits for adding and comparing 3-bit numbers (this only makes sense if you know the rules of that game). I knew that kind of [[digital logic]] from my former life as an electronics hobbyist (which I gave up as soon as I gained access to the mainframe).
</blockquote>

[http://blog.techrocket.com/2016/04/21/python-creator-guido-van-rossum-on-how-he-got-his-start-in-programming/ Source]

== See also ==

* [[Python (programming language)]]

== External links ==

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_van_Rossum Guido van Rossum] @ Wikipedia
* [http://blog.techrocket.com/2016/04/21/python-creator-guido-van-rossum-on-how-he-got-his-start-in-programming/ Python Creator Guido van Rossum on How He Got His Start in Programming] 



[[Category:Computer programmers]]
[[Category:People]]