Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.perl,comp.lang.tcl Followup-to: comp.lang.misc Subject: Python 1.0.0 is out! --> Tired of decyphering the Perl code you wrote last week? --> Frustrated with Bourne shell syntax? --> Spent too much time staring at core dumps lately? Maybe you should try Python, the next generation object-oriented scripting and prototyping language, with a *readable* syntax. Python has been used by hundreds of happy users all over the world during the past three years, and is now ready for prime time. Python is an interpreted language, and has the usual advantages of such languages, such as run-time checks (e.g. bounds checking), execution of dynamically generated code, automatic memory allocation, high level operations on strings, lists and dictionaries (associative arrays), and a fast edit-compile-run cycle. Additionally, it features modules, classes, exceptions, and dynamic linking of extensions written in C or C++. It has arbitrary precision integers. Python can be run interactively, and there is an extensive Emacs editing mode which includes the capability to execute regions of code. For the truly desperate there is a source level debugger (written in Python, of course :-). Python comes with a large library of standard modules and classes, as well as an extensive set of demo programs. It has interfaces to most Unix system calls and library functions, and there exist extensions that interface to window systems and graphics libraries like X and SGI's GL. Python's source (in C) and documentation (in LaTeX and PostScript) are freely available on the Internet. It builds without intervention on most Unix platforms: error-free builds have been confirmed for SGI IRIX 4 and 5, Sun SunOS 4 and Solaris 2, HP-UX, DEC Ultrix and OSF/1, IBM AIX, and SCO ODT 3.0. A Macintosh binary is also available -- a DOS binary is in the works. If you have a WWW viewer (e.g. Mosaic), you can see all Python documentation on-line: point your viewer at the URL http://www.cwi.nl/~guido/Python.html. The source and documentation are available by anonymous ftp from the following sites -- please pick the one closest to you: Site IP address Directory ftp.cwi.nl 192.16.184.180 /pub/python gatekeeper.dec.com 16.1.0.2 /pub/plan/python/cwi ftp.uu.net 192.48.96.9 /languages/python ftp.fu-berlin.de 130.133.4.50 /pub/unix/languages/python The file is called python1.0.0.tar.Z (some mirror sites convert it to a .gz file or split it up in separate parts). See the INDEX file for other goodies: FAQ, NEWS, PostScript, Emacs info, Mac binary, etc. (Please don't ask me to mail it to you -- at 1.76 Megabytes it is unwieldy at least...) There's a mailing list; write to to subscribe (no LISTSERV commands please). A FAQ list is regularly posted to comp.lang.misc. A newsgroup may be created in the near future. [Excuse the hype -- Python really is a neat language, if I may say so. Please direct all followups to comp.lang.misc only.] --Guido van Rossum, CWI, Amsterdam URL: