-- JinQing [2006-09-19 09:19:23]
1.1. "And Now for Something Completely Different"
1.1. “前所未有的表演”
This book is about using Python, an easy-to-use, flexible, object-oriented, mature, popular, and open source[*] programming language designed to optimize development speed. Although it is completely general purpose, Python is often called a scripting language, partly because of its sheer ease of use and partly because it is commonly used to orchestrate or "glue" other software components in an application. Python is also commonly known as a high-level language, because it automates most low-level tasks that programmers must handle manually in traditional languages such as C.
本书是讲Python使用的。Python是一种好用的、灵活的、面向对象的、成熟的、流行的、开源的 [*] 编程语言，它在设计上是针对开发速度优化的。尽管它完全是通用型的语言，Python常被称为脚本语言，一部分是因为它特别好用，另一部分是因为它通常用来配合或“粘合”应用程序中的其他软件组件。一般认为，Python也是高级语言，因为它能自动处理大多数低级任务，而在传统语言如C语言中，程序员必须手工处理这些任务。
[*] Open source systems are sometimes called freeware, in that their source code is freely distributed and community controlled. Don't let that concept fool you, though; with roughly 1 million users in that community today, Python is very well supported. For more information on open source, see http://opensource.org.
[*] 开源系统有时被称为自由软件（freeware），因为它们的源代码可以自由分发并由社区控制。不过不要被概念欺骗；现在这个社区有大约一百万用户，Python是广受支持的。有关开源的更多信息，可见http://opensource.org。
If you are new to Python, chances are you've heard about the language somewhere but are not quite sure what it is about. To help you get started, this chapter provides a general introduction to Python's features and roles. Most of it will make more sense once you have seen real Python programs, but let's first take a quick pass over the forest before wandering among the trees. In this chapter, we'll explore Python's philosophy, its history, and some of its most prominent benefits and uses, before digging into the details.
如果你是Python新人，有可能你在哪里听说过Python语言但不知道它是干什么的。为帮助你入门，本章概要地介绍了Python的特性和作用。对于大部分内容，当你见到真实的Python程序时会有更深的理解，不过我们还是先快速穿越森林，不要在树丛里绕来绕去。在钻研细节之前，本章将探究Python的哲学，它的历史，及一些卓越的益处和效用。
