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<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://alterslash.org/day/20180712#article-12349510">https://alterslash.org/day/20180712#article-12349510</a></p>
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<h1>Python Language Founder Steps Down</h1>
<div class="meta"> Posted by <cite>msmash</cite> • <time
datetime="2018-07-12T16:02:00+0000">2018-Jul-12 16:02</time> •
<a
href="https://developers.slashdot.org/story/18/07/12/201231/python-language-founder-steps-down#comments">View
on SlashDot</a> • <span class="permalink"><a
href="https://alterslash.org/day/20180712#article-12349510"
title="Python Language Founder Steps Down">Shareable Link</a></span>
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After almost 30 years of overseeing the development of the world's
most popular language, Python, its founder and "Benevolent Dictator
For Life" (BDFL), Guido van Rossum, has <a
href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/python-language-founder-steps-down/">decided
to remove himself entirely from the decision process</a>. From a
report: <i> Van Rossum isn't leaving Python entirely. He said,
"I'll still be there for a while as an ordinary core dev, and I'll
still be available to mentor people -- possibly more available."
It's clear from van Rossum's note he's sick and tired of running
the organization. He wrote, "I don't ever want to have to fight so
hard for a PEP (Python Enhancement Proposals) [PEP 572 Assignment
Expressions] and find that so many people despise my decisions."
In addition, van Rossum hints he's not been well. "I'm not getting
younger... (I'll spare you the list of medical issues.)" So, "I'm
basically giving myself a permanent vacation from being BDFL, and
you all will be on your own."</i> From <a
href="https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-committers/2018-July/005664.html">the
email</a>: <i> I am not going to appoint a successor. So what are
you all going to do? Create a democracy? Anarchy? A dictatorship?
A federation? I'm not worried about the day to day decisions in
the issue tracker or on GitHub. Very rarely I get asked for an
opinion, and usually it's not actually important. So this can just
be dealt with as it has always been.</i> At Slashdot, we had the
privilege of interviewing Guido van Rossum, <a
href="https://developers.slashdot.org/story/18/02/24/1512207/computer-history-museum-honorees-include-python-creator-guido-van-rossum">a
Computer History Museum honoree</a>, in <a
href="https://developers.slashdot.org/story/13/08/25/2115204/interviews-guido-van-rossum-answers-your-questions">2013</a>.
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