conclusionpython and the development cycle foreword for the fourth edition wrote the following conclusion in for the first edition of this bookat time when python' integration role as front-end scripting language was viewed as more important than it often is today since thenpython has emerged as one of the top four or five most widely used programming languages in the world as it has grown in popularityits focus on code quality and readabilityand their related impact on developer productivityseems to have become the more dominant factor behind python' success in factmost python programmers today write pure python codewithout ever having to know or care about external libraries typicallya small handful of developers integrate external libraries for the majority to leverage in their python code while integration still matterspython is largely about quality and productivity to most people today (see "the python "secret handshake"on page for more on python contemporary philosophybecause of this shiftsome of this conclusion may have grown bit narrow in deferencei've removed all the "postscriptupdates that appeared here in prior editions this edition retains the conclusion itselfthoughpartly because of its historical valuepartly because it still reflects the ideals that propelled python into the limelight in the first placeand partly because of its continued relevance to python users who still integrate hybrid systems (wellthatplus the jokesat the end of the daymany of us have gotten off this proverbial island by nowthanks to the rise of tools such as python indeedover the last years python has realized most of its original aspirations laid out here the choice before us today seems to be between keeping the boat from growing too heavy or learning to swim well