Python Unit Test Automation

Happy Learning!!!
Ashwin Pajankar

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© Ashwin Pajankar 2017 
A. Pajankar, Python Unit Test Automation, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4842-2677-3_1
CHAPTER 1
Introduction to Python
I hope you have glanced through the introduction section. If you have not, I recommend 
reading it, as it will help you with the context and the philosophy of the book.
Let us begin our adventurous journey by learning the history and background of 
Python.
I personally find Python amazing and have been enchanted by it. Python is a simple 
yet powerful programming language. When using Python, it’s easy to focus on the 
implementation of the solution of the given problem, as programmers do not have to 
worry about the syntax of the programming language.
The History of Python
Python was conceived in the late 1980s. Its implementation was started in late 1989 by 
Guido van Rossum at the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (National Research Institute 
for Mathematics and Computer Science) in the Netherlands. Python is a successor to the 
ABC programming language, which itself was inspired by SETL. In February 1991, Van 
Rossum published the Python code to the alt.sources newsgroup. The name Python 
was inspired by the television show “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” as Van Rossum is a 
big fan of Monty Python.
Van Rossum is the principal author of Python. He still plays a central role in guiding 
the direction of development and further evolution of Python. He holds the title of 
Benevolent Dictator for Life for Python.
The central philosophy of Python, called the Zen of Python, is explained in PEP-20, 
which can be found at 
https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020
.
It is a collection of 20 software principles, out of which 19 have been written. The 
principles are as follows:
•  Beautiful is better than ugly.
•  Explicit is better than implicit.
•  Simple is better than complex.