Python is an OO programming language that is usable for pedestrian tasks typically called "scripting", as well as for the construction of highly advanced class libraries. The latest versions, Python 2.2 and 2.3, have added significant power to Python's competence in the latter area, primarily through the introduction of two new concepts: iterators (a generalization of for loops) and descriptors (a generalization of customizable attributes).
In this talk I will present the principles and some examples of these additions, and show how they are useful for lowly scripting tasks as well as for advanced class library authors. I encourage audience participation and will be available for questions afterwards.
About the speaker:
Guido van Rossum is the creator of Python, one of the major free scripting languages. He created Python in the early 1990s at CWI in Amsterdam, and is still actively involved in the development of the language.
In 1995 he moved to the US; first to work for CNRI in Reston, VA as a researcher, then for Zope Corporation as Director of PythonLabs, and since 2003, after a move to the SF bay area, for Elemental Security.
His home on the web is http://www.python.org/~guido/.
Guido van Rossum
155 Bovet Rd, Suite 600
San Mateo, CA 94402