 Python was conceived in the late 1980s , and its implementation began in December 1989 by Guido van Rossum at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica ( CWI ) in the Netherlands as a successor to the ABC language ( itself inspired by SETL ) capable of exception handling and interfacing with the operating system Amoeba . Van Rossum is Python 's principal author , and his continuing central role in deciding the direction of Python is reflected in the title given to him by the Python community , benevolent dictator for life ( BDFL ) . 
