Creators of Python Sponsor PyCon 2003, First Annual Developers Conference in March

FREDERICKSBURG, VA, February 13, 2003

No, it's not a snake or the name of a British comedy group. Python is one of the most useful, compelling and intelligently designed programming platforms to have emerged into the computer industry mainstream in recent years. It is rapidly gaining wide acceptance and being deployed in major IT shops around the world.

Software developers now have an opportunity to learn more about this exciting platform from the people who created it in the first place. The Python Software Foundation's first annual Python conference for developers, PyCon 2003, is a community-oriented event that targets programmers working with the language -- and on the language itself. It provides opportunities to learn about significant advances in Python development, to participate in a programming sprint with some of the leading minds in the Python community, and to meet fellow developers from around the world.

Python was originally created in the early '90s by Guido van Rossum as a language that could be used to teach the most advanced concepts of programming to non-programmers. Over the past decade, Python has grown world-wide into a programming language that is used in mission-critical applications by major players such as Google, Philips, Nasa, AstraZeneca, Industrial Light and Magic, and Rackspace. Python is also used extensively in universities and by many research groups.

Python stresses readability, simplicity and elegance. Says van Rossum: "As an object-oriented language, Python aims to encourage the creation of reusable code. Even if we all wrote perfect documentation all of the time, code can hardly be considered reusable if it's not readable." Python is also extremely portable. There are currently identical versions available for nearly every computing platform, major and obscure, from PDAs to mainframes. Python is also an open-source platform, which encourages sharing of ideas and code. These characteristics make Python an excellent choice for enterprise application integration, large-scale web development, Web services, XML processing, application scripting, and even GUI development.

"We're constantly amazed at the depth and breadth of our customer base," says Stephan Deibel, co-Founder of Archaeopteryx Software, a leading vendor of Python development tools. "Python is being used in just about every imaginable domain, quite literally from soup factories to shipyards. Python is a solution that every programmer should at least be aware of."

The first PyCon will be held 26-28 March, 2003, at George Washington University's Cafritz Conference Center in Washington DC. For those who want to get a hands-on opportunity to work on the language itself with the core Python development group, there is also a coding sprint before the conference, on Monday and Tuesday, March 24-25.

Early-bird registration for the conference (until February 28, 2003) has been set at US $150. Subsequent pre-conference registration will cost US $200; and the fee to register at the conference itself will be US $250.

For more information or to register, please visit the PyCon 2003 website: http://python.org/pycon.

Interested would-be contributors can still contact the conference organizers at to suggest a presentation or other activities of interest to Python users and developers: pycondc-2003@python.org.

In addition to the Python Software Foundation, other sponsors of the event are software companies involved in the Python community, including Active State, Zeomega, Archaeopteryx Software, and Zoteca.

About Python

Python is a powerful object oriented programming language that is developed and maintained by a global community of Open Source contributors, under the oversight of the Python Software Foundation (PSF). Python's unique blend of simplicity and power excels in a wide range of business and research development tasks, including the construction of web applications, complex business solutions, and large desktop applications.

Python significantly increases programmer productivity over languages such as C, C++, Java, and Visual Basic. The language's global user base is estimated in the hundreds of thousands and is growing rapidly. Python runs on Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Unix, OS/2, WinCE, and many other operating systems. Full source code is available for the language and associated standard libraries.

Key features of Python include:

Object orientation, modular name spaces, exceptions, and multi-threading
High-level dynamic data typing and very late binding
Tight integration with C, C++, and Java modules
May be compiled to Java byte code for use in any JVM
String and regular expression processing
Extensive XML and web services support
HTTP, FTP, SMTP, POP, IMAP, NNTP, telnet, and other IP protocols
HTML, MIME, base64, binhex, uuencode, and other internet data handling
GUI development and multimedia services
Unit testing, profiling, and documentation generation
Restricted execution security option
Available third party modules for database access, math, 3D modeling, image processing, LDAP, WebDAV, jabber, MIDI, and much more

More information and downloads are available at http://python.org.

About the PSF

The Python Software Foundation (PSF) is a non-profit organization devoted to advancing Open Source technology related to the Python programming language. The PSF holds the intellectual property rights to Python. Additional information is available at http://python.org/psf.

Press Contact

Aron Trauring, Zoteca
2472 Broadway, Suite 195
New York, NY 10025
1 866 968-3221
aronst@zoteca.com
http://www.zoteca.com/