Guido van Rossum
Born 1956 · Age 69
Dutch programmer; creator of the Python programming language; former BDFL of Python; Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in The Hague (Haarlem), Netherlands
Guido van Rossum was born on 31 January 1956 in The Hague / Haarlem area of the Netherlands.
Received electronics kit; began electronics hobby
As a child (around his 10th birthday) van Rossum received an electronics kit and became an electronics hobbyist in high school.
Bronze medal, International Mathematical Olympiad
Won a bronze medal at the IMO (International Mathematical Olympiad).
Master's degree, University of Amsterdam
Received a master's degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Amsterdam.
Joined Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI)
Early career employment at the Dutch national research center CWI (worked on ABC and other projects while at CWI).
Contributed to ABC programming language
Worked on the ABC programming language (an influence on Python) while at CWI.
Contributed glob() routine to BSD Unix
Wrote and contributed a glob() routine to BSD Unix while at CWI.
Started writing Python (hobby project)
During the Christmas 1989 break he began writing an interpreter for a new scripting language (a descendant of ABC) which became Python.
Named the language 'Python' (inspired by Monty Python)
Chose the name 'Python' as a working title, inspired by Monty Python's Flying Circus.
First public release of Python
Python was first released publicly (first published release commonly dated to 1991).
Created Grail web browser (written in Python)
Developed Grail, an early web browser implemented in Python (created while associated with CNRI/CWI projects). Date approximate from sources.
Co‑authored 'Internet Programming with Python'
Co‑author of the book 'Internet Programming with Python' (1996).
Submitted DARPA proposal 'Computer Programming for Everybody'
Submitted a funding proposal to DARPA defining goals for Python (accessibility, readability, open source).
Left CNRI and joined BeOpen.com
In May 2000 he left CNRI along with other core developers to join tech startup BeOpen.com.
Married Kim Knapp
Announced marriage to Kim Knapp; they later have a son.
BeOpen.com collapsed
BeOpen.com (startup he joined in May 2000) collapsed by October of the same year.
Joined Zope Corporation
Worked at Zope Corporation from late 2000 until 2003.
Python received FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software (award year 2001; presented at FOSDEM 2002)
Award from the Free Software Foundation for work on Python (award year 2001; presentation at 2002 FOSDEM conference).
Left Zope; joined Elemental Security
In 2003 he left Zope Corporation for Elemental Security and worked on a custom programming language for the company.
Published 'An Introduction to Python' and 'The Python Language Reference Manual' (editions noted)
Authored or contributed to Python tutorials and reference materials around 2003 (multiple Python publications / references).
Received NLUUG Award
Received the NLUUG Award in May 2003 for contributions to computing / open source.
Stanford CSL Colloquium talk 'What's New in Python?'
Spoke at Stanford CSL Colloquium (29 Oct 2003); also spoke at BayPiggies in Nov 2003 about Python updates.
Python among top 10 languages in TIOBE since 2004 (ongoing milestone)
Python has been among the 10 most popular programming languages every year since 2004 according to the TIOBE index (not a one‑time event but an ongoing milestone).
Joined Google (spent half time on Python)
Started at Google in 2005; devoted roughly half his time to developing Python while at Google.
Recognized as ACM Distinguished Engineer
Association for Computing Machinery recognized him as a Distinguished Engineer in 2006.
Spoke at O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON)
Appeared/speaked at OSCON 2006 (captured in photos and conference records).
Developed Mondrian (web-based code review) at Google
Created the Mondrian web-based code-review system in Python for internal Google use (named after Piet Mondrian).
Published blog post and open‑source on Rietveld (May 2008)
Wrote an open-source post about the Rietveld code review tool and made it available to the public (May 2008).
Appeared at Google I/O (2008)
Spoke/appeared at Google I/O 2008 (public appearances related to Python/Google).
Published Rietveld code-review tool (open source)
Wrote/published the Rietveld code-review tool (related to Mondrian), and blogged about it (May 2008).
Left Google
Announced his departure from Google on 7 December 2012.
Joined Dropbox
Started working at Dropbox in January 2013; Dropbox made heavy use of Python.
Oral history interview with the Computer History Museum (archived)
Oral history material and interviews with the Computer History Museum covering his life and Python (archival copies available; interview material dates around this period).
Named Fellow of the Computer History Museum
Made a Fellow of the Computer History Museum (announcement April 5, 2018).
Stepped down as Python's Benevolent Dictator For Life (BDFL)
Announced stepping down from the role of Python's BDFL on 12 July 2018.
Awarded honorary title 'Dijkstra Fellow' by CWI
CWI conferred the honorary title of Dijkstra Fellow in 2019.
Python became second most popular language on GitHub (Octoverse)
In 2019 Python was the second most popular language on GitHub (behind JavaScript) according to GitHub reports.
Left Dropbox and announced retirement
Tweeted that he was leaving Dropbox and was retiring (30 Oct 2019).
Withdrew nomination for 2020 Python Steering Council
Remained on the Steering Council through 2019 and withdrew from nominations for the 2020 election (nominated 27 Nov 2019 archival note).
Came out of retirement; joined Microsoft as Distinguished Engineer
Announced on 12 November 2020 that he had left retirement to join Microsoft's Developer Division as a Distinguished Engineer.
Python reached #1 on the TIOBE index (October 2021)
Python reached the number one spot on the TIOBE Programming Community Index in October 2021.
Awarded the NEC C&C Prize
Received the prestigious C&C Prize from NEC Corporation on 10 October 2023 for developing Python.
Python became the most used language on GitHub (Octoverse 2024)
According to GitHub's Octoverse report (29 Oct 2024), Python overtook JavaScript to become the most used language on GitHub.
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