Ten years ago I completed the foreword for the first edition of this book. Python 1.3 was current then, and 1.4 was in beta. I wrote about Python’s origins and philosophy, and about how its first six years changed my life. Python was still mostly a one-man show at the time, and I only mentioned other contributors and the Python community in one paragraph near the end.
Five years later the second edition came out, much improved and quite a bit heftier, and I wrote a new foreword. Python 2.0 was hot then, and the main topic of the foreword was evolution of the language. Python 2.0 added a lot of new features, and many were concerned that the pace of change would be unsustainable for the users of the language. I addressed this by promising feature-by-feature backward compatibility for several releases and by regulating change through a community process using Python Enhancement Proposals (PEPs).
By then, Python’s development had become truly community-driven, with many developers (besides myself) having commit privileges into the source tree. This move toward community responsibility has continued ever since. My own role has become more limited over time, though have not yet been reduced to playing a purely ceremonial function like that of the Dutch Queen.
Perhaps the biggest change in recent years is the establishment of the Python Software Foundation (PSF), a non-profit organization that formally owns and manages the rights to the Python source code and owns the Python trademark. Its board and members (helped by many nonmember volunteers) also offer many services to the Python community, from the Python.org web site and mailing lists to the yearly Python Conference. Membership in the PSF is by invitation only, but donations are always welcome (and tax-deductible, at least in the U.S.).
The PSF does not directly control Python’s development; however, the developers don’t have to obey any rules set by the PSF. Rather, it’s the other way around: active Python developers make up the majority of the PSF’s membership. This arrangement, together with the open source nature of Python’s source code license, ensures that Python will continue to serve the goals of its users and developers.
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