Python Programming Language

What was the initial end-of-life date for Python 2.7?

What utility is included in Python 3 releases to automate the translation of Python 2 code to Python 3?

Which Python versions are currently supported as of 2023?

What is the unofficial Python implementation that continues to support Python 2?

What was the reason for expediting security updates in 2021 and 2022?

What is the stable release of Python as of October 2023?

What notable changes were introduced in Python 3.11?

What is the new keyword added in Python 3.12?

What is the primary focus of Python's design philosophy?

What type of programming language is Python?

What is the term used to describe Python's comprehensive standard library?

When was the first version of Python released?

What is the name of the operating system that the ABC programming language was capable of interfacing with?

What is the title that the Python community bestowed upon Guido van Rossum?

What feature was introduced in Python 2.0?

What is the current leadership structure of the Python project?

General-purpose Programming Language

Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language that emphasizes code readability with significant indentation.
It is dynamically typed and garbage-collected, supporting multiple programming paradigms, including structured, object-oriented, and functional programming.

History of Python

Guido van Rossum began working on Python in the late 1980s as a successor to the ABC programming language.
Python 0.9.0 was first released in 1991.
Python 2.0 was released in 2000, with many major new features such as list comprehensions and Unicode support.
Python 3.0 was released in 2008, with many of its major features backported to Python 2.6.x and 2.7.x.

Releases and Support

Python 2.7's end-of-life was initially set for 2015, then postponed to 2020.
Python 2.7.18, released in 2020, was the last release of Python 2.
Currently, only Python 3.8 and later are supported (2023 security issues were fixed in e.g. 3.7.17, the final 3.7.x release).
PyPy, an unofficial Python implementation, continues to support Python 2, i.e. "2.7.18+" (plus 3.9 and 3.10).

Recent Developments

In 2021 and 2022, security updates were expedited due to security issues leading to possible remote code execution and web-cache poisoning.
Python 3.10.4 and 3.9.12 were expedited and 3.8.13 due to many security issues.
Python 3.9.13 was released in May 2022, announcing that the 3.9 series would only receive security fixes in the future.
As of October 2023, Python 3.12 is the stable release, and 3.12 and 3.11 are the only versions with active (as opposed to just security) support.
Notable changes in 3.11 include increased program execution speed and improved error reporting.
Python 3.12 adds syntax to the language, including the new (soft) keyword type, and improved error reporting.

Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language with a design philosophy emphasizing code readability and a comprehensive standard library. It supports multiple programming paradigms and is often described as a 'batteries included' language.