python, (Gr. Myth. An enormous serpent that lurked in the cave of Mount Parnassus and was slain by Apollo) 1. any of a genus of large, non-poisonous snakes of Asia, Africa and Australia that suffocate their prey to death. 2. popularly, any large snake that crushes its prey. 3. totally awesome, bitchin' language that will someday crush the $'s out of certain other so-called VHLL's ;-)
Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language. It is often compared to Tcl, Perl, Scheme or Java.
Python combines remarkable power with very clear syntax. It has modules, classes, exceptions, very high level dynamic data types, and dynamic typing. There are interfaces to many system calls and libraries, as well as to various windowing systems (X11, Motif, Tk, Mac, MFC). New built-in modules are easily written in C or C++. Python is also usable as an extension language for applications that need a programmable interface.
The Python implementation is portable: it runs on many brands of UNIX, on Windows, DOS, OS/2, Mac OSX, Amiga... If your favorite system isn't listed here, it may still be supported, if there's a C compiler for it. Ask around on comp.lang.python -- or just try compiling Python yourself.
Python is copyrighted but freely usable and distributable, even for commercial use.
Historical note: This page describes the Python license used for Python versions up to and including Python 1.6a2. CNRI released Python 1.6b1 and the final Python 1.6 release under a different license, which is open source compliant, but not compatible with the GPL (the only incompatibility being the inclusion of a choice-of-law clause). However, we expect that Python 2.0 and later versions, released by BeOpen PythonLabs, will be released under a GPL-compatible license.
Most Python sources and binaries are distributed under the following copyright. A few files have a different copyright owner, but otherwise the notice is similar.
The gist of it is that Python is absolutely free, even for commercial use (including resale). There is no GNU-like "copyleft" restriction.
A clarification: some very picky lawyers are worried that the notice doesn't explicitly grant permission to distribute modified copies (even though it grants permission to copy, modify, and distribute). This can be considered an oversight in the notice; we have no intention to limit distribution of modified copies (that otherwise play by the rules). Similarly, the words "without fee" are to be read connected to "permission": permission is granted without fee. We are in the process of revising the notice to clarify it, but this is a slow process.
Another clarification: the limitation of the copyright to 1991-1995 in the notice is not a mistake, but rather a deliberate decision. Copyright applies regardless of whether it is explicitly stated or not.
News: The Open Source Initiative board has voted to certify the Python license as Open Source.
And if you had to ask, yes, this license is compatible with the GPL (sez RMS).