Python descendant to Perl?

[Guido van Rossum]

"Tim Peters" <tim.one at home.com> writes:

> Ya, C is where Python got declarations, curly braces, and mandatory
> semicolons <wink>.  Really, its influence on the language proper was usually
> in a "run away screaming from" direction.  Its influence on the Python
> *library* was huge, though, and C's I/O model was stolen whole.  Curiously,
> C also had and retains huge influence on literal notations (would anyone in
> their right mind *choose* to make 010 mean something different than 10?  no,
> therefore we blame C -- it's convenient <wink>).

Actuall, I made a conscious decision to borrow from C in any area
where I didn't feel like innovating the language design.  That ended
up mostly the tokenizer conventions: not just numbers, but also
identifiers and string escapes, the '=' assignment operator, and most
of the binary operators as well as their priorities (comparisons and
Booleans excluded).  And the string formatting operator (I don't think
that falls under the "I/O model" that Tim mentions).  Also return,
break, continue.

So yes, C was an important influence on the language as well as on the
library.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)