Guido van Rossum Interviews Thomas Wouters (Python Core Dev)
75 points
1 day ago
| 4 comments
| gvanrossum.github.io
| HN
tda
7 hours ago
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I love these kind of stories, and I appreciate the effort to write these histories down.

I do think the interview could use a bit more editing, it now reads more like a literal transcript and that is somewhat exhausting to read. Take this excerpt:

>> "Like it just fit my brain. It’s one of those where I don’t have to think about it, it just automatically makes sense to me. Much more than any other programming language. Even though I quite like C, I quite like all the pitfalls in C, I’m very comfortable in C and C++ and pretty comfortable in Java and PHP, but Python is just fun and it’s enjoyable and it makes sense. And this was the Usenet days, of course. I think the Python list, yeah, the email list gateway existed as well. So I think I just subscribed to Python-List and learned a lot about Python just from using it, following along."

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OskarS
4 hours ago
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Great interview, really fun to read. I love that they were both so technically involved, the section of the great interview where they just start discussing how a range literal would work and why it's a good/bad idea is just great. A wonderful example of how really talented and smart engineers talk to each other.
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itsmemattchung
1 hour ago
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Really interesting format (and appreciate him / Guido being explicit about preferring written prose over [audio] podcasts).

> I remember my niece had a problem with it because her son wanted to drop out of school and pointed to me as, look, I don’t meet school, look at Thomas. And I had to go, no, no, no. I was in a unique situation where the industry was open to anyone who could do the work and I could do the work. That’s not the case anymore. So you have to finish school.

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DonHopkins
4 hours ago
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> And I remember vividly because we had the board elections. I was running for the board. He was running for the board. We had six people elected. And then tied in seventh place were Eric Raymond and I. And he suggested a shootout. I mean playfully, suggested a gun duel because that’s his thing and you said how about pies instead and then Greg said no we’ll just have another round of elections and then I won (Guido laughs) and then in the first years of the PSF we were talking a lot about, I don’t know where to get income and how to get companies to support Python and that kind of thing. And obviously the IRS status and what we should do. And I remember at one point I made a analogy with gun laws or gun regulation or something. And you sent a reply saying, I’m so glad that you won instead of Eric Raymond.

WHEW they literally dodged a bullet there!

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gschizas
1 hour ago
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What's the story with Eric Raymond?
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wraptile
49 minutes ago
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If I understand correctly it's just a reflection on different governing styles where Eric Raymond was a bit louder (pro gun libertarian) while Guido's strategy was more consensus-orentied and pragmatic which turned out be the winning one. PSF got IRS non-profit status etc and became incredibly successful.

Maybe someone else can fill in more but there's nothing particularly dramatic here that I could find other than Eric has become more political in culture wars era. Also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond#Political_beli...

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