This is a static archive of the Python wiki, which was retired in February 2026 due to lack of usage and the resources necessary to serve it — predominately to bots, crawlers, and LLM companies.
Pages are preserved as they were at the time of archival. For current information, please visit python.org.
If a change to this archive is absolutely needed, requests can be made via the infrastructure@python.org mailing list.

Outline for: "What is Python"

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to present a concise, benefits-based explanation of what the Python language is all about, to a reader who is already a programmer but not knowledgeable about Python.

For handing out at mixed-topic conferences and user group meetings, where contact with curious people can be made, to make them aware that Python even exists. In this environment we can't be sure of their background but if they are interested in a programming language, we can assume either a basic programming background or team/managerial responsibility.

Include names/logos of your more mainstream companies that are using Python, but probably omit the more obscure ones.

Benefits

  • readable
  • very high-level expressibility
  • a feature-rich library
  • cross-platform
  • used in different problem domains

2026-02-14 16:06