This is Python, an extensible interpreted programming language that combines remarkable power with very clear syntax.

This is version 0.9 (the first beta release), patchlevel 1.

Python can be used instead of shell, Awk or Perl scripts, to write prototypes of real applications, or as an extension language of large systems, you name it. There are built-in modules that interface to the operating system and to various window systems: X11, the Mac window system (you need STDWIN for these two), and Silicon Graphics' GL library. It runs on most modern versions of UNIX, on the Mac, and I wouldn't be surprised if it ran on MS-DOS unchanged. I developed it mostly on an SGI IRIS workstation (using IRIX 3.1 and 3.2) and on the Mac, but have tested it also on SunOS (4.1) and BSD 4.3 (tahoe).

Building and installing Python is easy (but do read the Makefile). A UNIX style manual page and extensive documentation (in LaTeX format) are provided. (In the beta release, the documentation is still under development.)

Please try it out and send me your comments (on anything -- the language design, implementation, portability, installation, documentation) and the modules you wrote for it, to make the first real release better. If you needed to hack the source to get it to compile and run on a particular machine, send me the fixes -- I'll try to incorporate them into the next patch. If you can't get it to work at all, send me a detailed description of the problem and I may look into it.

If you want to profit of the X11 or Mac window interface, you'll need STDWIN. This is a portable window system interface by the same author. The versions of STDWIN floating around on some archives are not sufficiently up-to-date for use with Python. I will distribute the latest and greatest STDWIN version at about the same time as Python.

I am the author of Python:

Guido van Rossum
CWI, dept. CST
Kruislaan 413
1098 SJ  Amsterdam
The Netherlands

E-mail: guido@cwi.nl

The Python source is copyrighted, but you can freely use and copy it as long as you don't change or remove the copyright:

/*********************************************************** Copyright 1991 by Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

                    All Rights Reserved

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of Stichting Mathematisch Centrum or CWI not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission.

STICHTING MATHEMATISCH CENTRUM DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL STICHTING MATHEMATISCH CENTRUM BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

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