Python for Windows source code icon used until the icons were coördinated across platforms in 2006.
Mark Hammond
BSD
Was added to the Python source tree shortly after the 1.5b1 release in <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/f11d0240e37749f6278b7f7763364f1c90d3bcdc">this commit</a>, and first appeared in the main Python package in the 1.5b2 release. The <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/d0d0154443cafb2f0a2cdfb6a1267d80cce8388e/Misc/HISTORY">HISTORY file</a>'s entry for Python 1.5b2 describes this change as follows (referring to <code>pycon.ico</code>, although <code>py.ico</code> and the original <code>pyc.ico</code> have the same origin, were added at the same time, and are closely related): <blockquote>
<p>Also, both python.exe and pythonw.exe now have a pretty icon (a green snake in a box, courtesy Mark Hammond).
</p>
</blockquote>
Prior to which, Hammond's PythonWin package had already been using the icon set. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://legacy.python.org/download/releases/binaries-1.3/pythonwin.zip">PythonWin for Python 1.3</a> (readme dated May 1996) was a single package shipping the PythonWin IDE with a Windows port of Python, and might have been the first Python for Windows distribution; its <code>pythonwi.exe</code> includes icons matching <code>py.ico</code> (1, 3) and <code>pycon.ico</code> (4) as icon resources, as well as including <code>pycon.ico</code> as a standalone file. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/19980526010423/http://www.python.org/windows/pythonwin/pywin.exe">PythonWin for Python 1.4</a>, distributed as an add-on package for the (now separated out) <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/19980526010423/http://www.python.org/windows/pywin14.html">Python 1.4 Windows distribution</a>, added a sixth icon resource to <code>PYTHONWIN.EXE</code>, matching the original <code>pyc.ico</code>. All three original icons can still be found in <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://github.com/mhammond/pywin32/tree/main/Pythonwin/res">Hammond's PyWin32 repo</a> (<code>IDR_MAIN.ICO</code> and <code>IDR_PYTH.ICO</code> match <code>py.ico</code>).