- Python was invented around 1990 by Guido van Rossum, when he was at CWI in Amsterdam. It is named after the BBC comedy series Monty Python 's Flying Circus, of which Guido is a fan (see this chapter's sidebar "What's in a Name?"). Guido was also involved with the Amoeba distributed operating system and the ABC language. In fact, his original motivation for creating Python was to create an advanced scripting language for the Amoeba system. Moreover, Python borrowed many of the usability-study-inspired ideas in ABC, but added practicality in the form of libraries, datatypes, external interfaces, and more.
- Python是Guido vab Rossum（吉多·范·罗苏姆）在1990年发明的，当时他在荷兰阿姆斯特丹的国家数学和计算机科学研究学会（CWI）工作。Guido是一个《蒙提·派森的飞行马戏团》[BBC的节目]( 参见附录"What's in a Name?")的狂热爱好者。在创作python之时，他使用的是Amoeba分布式操作系统和ABC语言。其实，他只是想开发一个在Amoeba环境下的高级脚本语言。Guido从ABC语言中取长补短，并且加入自己的特色，比如类型库，数据类型，外部接口等……
- The net effect was that Python's design turned out to be general enough to address a wide variety of domains. It is now used in increasingly diverse roles by hundreds of thousands of engineers around the world. Companies use Python today in commercial products for tasks as diverse as web site construction, hardware testing, numeric analysis, customizing C and Java class libraries, movie animation, and much more (more on roles in the next section). In fact, because Python is a completely general-purpose language, its target domains are limited only by the scope of computers in general.
- 最终呢,python被定义为一种用来解决各种问题的强大语言，服务着全世界成千上万的程序员和工程师。现在，python在web，硬件测试，数学运算，定制自己的c++和java类库，制作影视作品等方面都有出色发挥。因此可以这么说，python不够完美，它有他的局限，因为他只能运行在电脑上！
Since it first appeared on the public domain scene in 1991, Python has continued to attract a loyal following and has spawned a dedicated Internet newsgroup, comp.lang.python, in 1994. As the first edition of this book was being written in 1995, Python's home page debuted on the Web at http://www.python.orgstill the official place to find all things Python. A supplemental site, the Vaults of Parnassus, serves as a library of third-party extensions for Python application development (see http://www.vex.net/parnassus). More recently, the Python Package Index site (PyPI at http://www.python.org/pypialso known as the "Python Cheese Shop"began providing a comprehensive and automated catalog of third-party Python packages.
Python的第一次公开是在1991年，从此有许多粉丝，并且在1994年成立了新闻组。在python的官方网站python.org中还有所有的python版本。python有丰富的第三方扩展， http://www.vex.net/parnassus 和 http://www.python.org/pypi 后者提供了索引信息。
#内容改写了一下
- To help manage Python's growth, organizations that are aimed at supporting Python developers have taken shape over the years: among them, the now defunct Python Software Activity (PSA) was formed to help facilitate Python conferences and web sites, and the Python Consortium was formed by organizations interested in helping to foster Python's growth. More recently, the Python Software Foundation (PSF) was formed to own the intellectual property of Python and coordinate community activities, and the Python Business Forum (PBF) nonprofit group addresses the needs of companies whose businesses are based on Python. Additional resources are available for Python training, consulting, and other services.
- 在python逐渐完善的过程中，有许多人和组织帮助过我们。有些组织已经解散了，比如PSA，但是他们也为python的发展作出了贡献，再次表示感谢。 #内容比较罗嗦，缩短了
Today, Guido is employed by Google, the web search-engine maker and a major Python user, and he devotes a portion of his time to Python. A handful of key Python developers are also employed by Zope Corporation, home to the Python-based Zope web application toolkit (see http://www.zope.org and Chapter 18; Zope is also the basis of the Plone web content management system). However, the Python language is owned and managed by an independent body, and it remains a true open source, community-driven, and self-organizing system. Hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals contribute to Python's development, following a now formal Python Enhancement Proposal (PEP) procedure and coordinating their efforts online.
- 现在，Guido效力于谷歌公司（一个家喻户晓的搜索引擎），他负责python部分。创造了web奇迹的zope也是用python编写的（见http://www.zope.org和第18章）。python十一个真正开源，由大家共同来维护的软件。
Other companies have Python efforts underway as well. For instance, ActiveState and PythonWare develop Python tools, O'Reilly (the publisher of this book) and the Python community organize annual Python conferences (OSCON, PyCon, and EuroPython), and O'Reilly manages a supplemental Python web site (see the O'Reilly Network's Python DevCenter at http://www.oreillynet.com/python). Although the world of professional organizations and companies changes more frequently than do published books, the Python language will undoubtedly continue to meet the needs of its user community.
其他公司也在致力发展python软件，使之进步。比如ActiveState。另外，O'Reilly（本书出版商）和OSCON联合维护了python的网站（参阅http://www.oreillynet.com/python）。python时时刻刻都在变化，但是，python做出的决定绝对会满足用户的需求.