http://simonwillison.net/2026-02-03T02:31:10+00:00Simon Willison2026-02-03T02:31:10+00:002026-02-03T02:31:10+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/3/brandon-sanderson/#atom-tag

<blockquote cite="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb3uK-_QkOo&amp;t=832s"><p>This is the difference between Data and a large language model, at least the ones operating right now. Data created art because he wanted to grow. He wanted to become something. He wanted to understand. Art is the means by which we become what we want to be. [...]</p> <p>The book, the painting, the film script is not the only art. It's important, but in a way it's a receipt. It's a diploma. The book you write, the painting you create, the music you compose is important and artistic, but it's also a mark of proof that you have done the work to learn, because in the end of it all, you are the art. The most important change made by an artistic endeavor is the change it makes in you. The most important emotions are the ones you feel when writing that story and holding the completed work. I don't care if the AI can create something that is better than what we can create, because it cannot be changed by that creation.</p></blockquote> <p class="cite">&mdash; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb3uK-_QkOo&amp;t=832s">Brandon Sanderson</a>, via <a href="https://x.com/gvanrossum/status/2018491452771418402">Guido van Rossum</a></p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/art">art</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai">ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/generative-ai">generative-ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/llms">llms</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai-ethics">ai-ethics</a></p>

2025-08-28T19:49:51+00:002025-08-28T19:49:51+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2025/Aug/28/python-the-documentary/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="https://youtu.be/GfH4QL4VqJ0">Python: The Documentary</a></strong></p> New documentary about the origins of the Python programming language - 84 minutes long, built around extensive interviews with Guido van Rossum and others who were there at the start and during the subsequent journey. <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/computer-history">computer-history</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/youtube">youtube</a></p>

2024-08-11T18:29:26+00:002024-08-11T18:29:26+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2024/Aug/11/pep-750/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="https://peps.python.org/pep-0750/">PEP 750 – Tag Strings For Writing Domain-Specific Languages</a></strong></p> A new PEP by Jim Baker, Guido van Rossum and Paul Everitt that proposes introducing a feature to Python inspired by JavaScript's <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Template_literals#tagged_templates">tagged template literals</a>.</p> <p>F strings in Python already use a <code>f"f prefix"</code>, this proposes allowing any Python symbol in the current scope to be used as a string prefix as well.</p> <p>I'm excited about this. Imagine being able to compose SQL queries like this:</p> <pre><span class="pl-s1">query</span> <span class="pl-c1">=</span> <span class="pl-s">sql"select * from articles where id = <span class="pl-s1"><span class="pl-kos">{</span><span class="pl-s1">id</span><span class="pl-kos">}</span></span>"</span></pre> <p>Where the <code>sql</code> tag ensures that the <code>{id}</code> value there is correctly quoted and escaped.</p> <p>Currently <a href="https://discuss.python.org/t/pep-750-tag-strings-for-writing-domain-specific-languages/60408">under active discussion</a> on the official Python discussion forum. <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/javascript">javascript</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a></p>

2010-07-04T23:25:00+00:002010-07-04T23:25:00+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2010/Jul/4/httplib/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="http://svn.python.org/view/python/trunk/Lib/httplib.py?revision=3849&amp;view=markup">python/trunk/Lib/httplib.py in 1994</a></strong></p> Python’s original httplib implementation, checked in by Guido 16 years and 4 months ago. Not much younger than the Web itself. <p><small></small>Via <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1486220">Hacker News</a></small></p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/http">http</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/recovered">recovered</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/httplib">httplib</a></p>

2009-11-06T11:04:04+00:002009-11-06T11:04:04+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2009/Nov/6/neopythonic/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="http://neopythonic.blogspot.com/2009/11/python-in-scientific-world.html">Python in the Scientific World</a></strong></p> Python continues to make strides in the scientific world—and the Hubble Space Telescope team have been using it for 10 years! <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/astronomy">astronomy</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/hubblespacetelescope">hubblespacetelescope</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/science">science</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/scipy">scipy</a></p>

2009-02-18T23:00:16+00:002009-02-18T23:00:16+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2009/Feb/18/history/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="http://python-history.blogspot.com/2009/02/adding-support-for-user-defined-classes.html">The History of Python: Adding Support for User-defined Classes</a></strong></p> Guido designed the run-time representation first, and tried to design the syntax to include as few new parsing concepts as possible. The origins of explicit self are also explained. <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/css-classes">css-classes</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/object-oriented-programming">object-oriented-programming</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a></p>

2009-01-14T09:42:02+00:002009-01-14T09:42:02+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2009/Jan/14/history/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="http://python-history.blogspot.com/">The History of Python</a></strong></p> “A series of articles on the history of the Python programming language and its community”, being compiled by Guido plus guest authors. <p><small></small>Via <a href="http://neopythonic.blogspot.com/2009/01/history-of-python-introduction.html">Guido van Rossum</a></small></p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/history">history</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/programming">programming</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a></p>

2008-12-04T12:40:57+00:002008-12-04T12:40:57+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2008/Dec/4/whatsnew/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="http://docs.python.org/dev/3.0/whatsnew/3.0.html">What&#x27;s New In Python 3.0</a></strong></p> Lots. <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python3">python3</a></p>

2008-04-10T23:14:24+00:002008-04-10T23:14:24+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2008/Apr/10/google/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="http://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/2008/04/google-app-engine.html">Google App Engine for developers</a></strong></p> Best in-depth coverage so far, from Niall Kennedy. I didn’t know that Guido had worked on the Django compatibility layer. <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/django">django</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/google-app-engine">google-app-engine</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/niall-kennedy">niall-kennedy</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a></p>

2008-01-30T00:39:36+00:002008-01-30T00:39:36+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2008/Jan/30/monkeypatching/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2008-January/076194.html">Monkeypatching idioms - elegant or ugly?</a></strong></p> Guido offers a decorator and a metaclass as syntactic sugar for monkeypatching existing Python classes. <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/decorators">decorators</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/idioms">idioms</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/metaclasses">metaclasses</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/monkeypatching">monkeypatching</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a></p>

2007-06-19T13:49:50+00:002007-06-19T13:49:50+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2007/Jun/19/python/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=208549">Python 3000 Status Update</a></strong></p> Doesn’t look like we’ll get multiline lambdas, but the other stuff looks great. I’m not looking forward to years of Python 2 and Python 3 co-existing and splitting the community though (ala PHP 4 and 5). <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/php">php</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a></p>

2007-05-08T21:21:30+00:002007-05-08T21:21:30+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2007/May/8/guido/#atom-tag

<blockquote cite="http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-3000/2007-May/007414.html"><p>Just because Java was once aimed at a set-top box OS that didn't support multiple address spaces, and just because process creation in Windows used to be slow as a dog, doesn't mean that multiple processes (with judicious use of IPC) aren't a much better approach to writing apps for multi-CPU boxes than threads.</p></blockquote> <p class="cite">&mdash; <a href="http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-3000/2007-May/007414.html">Guido van Rossum</a></p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ipc">ipc</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/java">java</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/threads">threads</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/windows">windows</a></p>

2006-12-15T14:19:04+00:002006-12-15T14:19:04+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2006/Dec/15/refactoring/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-3000/2006-December/005096.html">[Python-3000] Refactoring tool available</a></strong></p> Guido’s initial work on a tool for converting Python 2.x code to Python 3K. <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a></p>

2005-12-22T00:04:06+00:002005-12-22T00:04:06+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2005/Dec/22/python/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/8821">Python Creator Guido van Rossum now working at Google</a></strong></p> Google are taking dynamic languages really seriously. <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/google">google</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a></p>

2005-04-01T14:23:01+00:002005-04-01T14:23:01+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2005/Apr/1/stricter/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=101968">Stricter Whitespace Enforcement</a></strong></p> Finally! Guido tightens the rules on whitespace. <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a></p>

2005-03-30T08:47:26+00:002005-03-30T08:47:26+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2005/Mar/30/fiveminute/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=101605">Five-minute Multimethods in Python</a></strong></p> A nice decorator example from Guido. <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a></p>

2003-04-13T22:58:27+00:002003-04-13T22:58:27+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2003/Apr/13/artimaWeblogs/#atom-tag

<p>Artima.com recently <a href="http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=4128" title="Introducing Artima Weblogs">started hosting weblogs</a>, with membership by invitation only. With people like <a href="http://www.artima.com/weblogs/index.jsp?blogger=12088">Guido van Rossum</a> and <a href="http://www.artima.com/weblogs/index.jsp?blogger=12206">Ward Cunningham</a> already signed up Artima looks set to become a very interesting corner of the blogging world.</p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/blogging">blogging</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ward-cunningham">ward-cunningham</a></p>

2003-01-14T23:35:15+00:002003-01-14T23:35:15+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2003/Jan/14/theMakingOfPython/#atom-tag

<p>One for the reading list: <a href="http://www.artima.com/intv/python.html">The Making of Python</a> - A conversation with Guido van Rossum, Part I.</p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/guido-van-rossum">guido-van-rossum</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/python">python</a></p>