Learning the Basics

Guido van Rossum, the creator of Python, is often referred to as the BDFL — theBenevolent Dictator For Life.

The Python Software Foundation is a non–profit organization that is responsible for holding and protecting the intellectual property of Python, the Package Index, PyCon, and related. It heavily contributes towards the sustainability of the language and its ecosystem both financially and through infrastructure.

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The major events for the Python community are developer conferences. The twomost notable conferences are PyCon, which is held in the US, and its Europeansibling, EuroPython.

User Groups are where a bunch of Python developers meet to present or talkabout Python topics of interest. A list of local user groups is maintained atthe Python Software Foundation Wiki.

PEPs (Python Enhancement Proposals) are the documents/process through which Python gets enhanced and changed, over time.

The most infamous PEP is , which documents how to properly style Python code within the community.

Anyone can propose a PEP, even you! It’s a long process, for good reasons — you have to convince a lot of people that your idea is a good one.

There are a few PEPs that could be considered required reading:

• PEP 20: The Zen of Python.
  • A list of 19 statements that briefly explain the philosophy behind Python.

Submitting a PEP

PEPs are peer-reviewed and accepted/rejected after much discussion. Anyonecan write and submit a PEP for review.

Here’s an overview of the PEP acceptance workflow: