Guido van Rossum first released Python publicly in 1991.
Van Rossum began developing Python in the Netherlands as a successor to the ABC programming language. He wanted a language that was easy to read, expressive, and practical for scripting and system administration. The name came from the British comedy group Monty Python, not from the snake.
Python’s design emphasizes significant indentation, dynamic typing, and a broad standard library. Its first public release was Python 0.9.0 in February 1991. The language later became widely used in web development, scientific computing, automation, education, and artificial intelligence.
Python 2 and Python 3 coexisted for many years, but Python 2 reached official end-of-life in January 2020. A common mix-up is confusing Python’s 1991 public release with the later creation of the Python Software Foundation in 2001.