| Guido van Rossum | 2bd358c | 1997-11-05 17:15:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | Announcing Python |
| 2 | |
| 3 | Python, a mature, powerful and stable programming language used by |
| 4 | tens of thousands of programmers worldwide, has arrived in full force |
| 5 | at the heart of Windows 95 and Windows NT. Toting the powerful |
| 6 | toolbox which has made it such a sucess on almost every modern |
| 7 | operating system, Python for Windows has embraced the metaphors and |
| 8 | resources of its new home and turned them into powerful tools within |
| 9 | the Python language. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | Python's wrapper-around-a-tool metaphor allows it to provide a |
| 12 | well-formed handle for manipulating the technologies which MicroSoft |
| 13 | provides to the programmer. These tools include: |
| 14 | |
| 15 | - Office automation and customisation through ActiveX and COM Scripting |
| 16 | - Networking services |
| 17 | - Remote access services |
| 18 | - Performance monitoring |
| 19 | - Registry maintenance |
| 20 | - Database interaction through both ODBC and native database drivers |
| 21 | |
| 22 | In addition, Python provides access to the standard |
| 23 | application-building libraries, the MicroSoft Foundation Classes. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Python is a high-level, interpreted, interactive, object-oriented |
| 26 | programming language. It provides the modern features programmer's |
| 27 | expect or desire, modules, exceptions, dynamic typing, high-level |
| 28 | dynamic data types, and classes. It combines remarkable power with |
| 29 | clear syntax, and easy extension. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | It is easy to extend Python by adding new, compiled tools to the |
| 32 | language. The compiling of extensions into the language toolbox |
| 33 | mitigates the overhead of interpretation, while the ability to mix |
| 34 | compiled and interpretted code promotes rapid application |
| 35 | development. In addition, it is possible to embed Python itself as a |
| 36 | tool in your applications, an easily understood and readily learned |
| 37 | extension language. |
| 38 | |
| 39 | (Should be some sort of bridge between the ideas of extending and the |
| 40 | ideas of already-available tools, but I have to start work soon...) |
| 41 | |
| 42 | Python's extensive, portable toolbox, available on Windows, most |
| 43 | Unixes, MacOS, DOS, and OS/2 includes a host of powerful tools which |
| 44 | are now easily available to Windows programmers. These include: |
| 45 | |
| 46 | - TCP/IP socket support |
| 47 | - CGI Forms Processing for the World-wide web |
| 48 | - Clients and servers for (among others) the HTTP and FTP protocols |
| 49 | - Powerful text manipulation facilities |
| 50 | - Powerful (optional) numeric and image manipulation facilities |
| 51 | |
| 52 | One of the most exciting of Python for Windows' new tools is |
| 53 | COM/ActiveX support. This tool allows Python to act as both server |
| 54 | and client to any COM-capable application or language, a group that |
| 55 | includes MSOffice, CorelDraw, MS Active Server Pages, Netscape |
| 56 | Communicator, MS Internet Explorer, Delphi, Visual Basic and Visual |
| 57 | C++. |
| 58 | |
| 59 | Client support allows Python to drive these applications (or |
| 60 | applications written in these languages), automating tasks, importing |
| 61 | or exporting data, customising environments and processing |
| 62 | information. Server support allows Python to be driven in a similar |
| 63 | manner, to provide access to its tools to any application capable of |
| 64 | calling a COM object. |
| 65 | |
| 66 | > Python's dynamism, flexibility, object oriented features, and |
| 67 | > ease of use make it a powerful and useful alternative to Java, |
| 68 | > Visual Basic, and compiled languages such as Delphi or C++. |
| 69 | > Simply put Python offers the simplest and most powerful way |
| 70 | > to solve many important programming and system administration |
| 71 | > tasks in the ActiveX/COM environment." |
| 72 | |
| 73 | It is, however, Python which is the star of Python for Windows. |
| 74 | Over seven years old, Python has long been a favourite of Web |
| 75 | Masters, Python is a clear, easily learned and understood language |
| 76 | with features that lend themselves to developing rapid, robust, |
| 77 | dynamic solutions. It is being used to solve problems in many large |
| 78 | organisations, notably including ... (insert notes here). It is |
| 79 | enthusiastically supported through public newsgroups and mailing |
| 80 | lists frequented by a large number of Python enthusiasts. Python |
| 81 | arguably provides the best support of any free language available. |