Alex Martelli
Alex Martelli is a member of the Python Software Foundation and works as Uber Tech Lead for Google, Inc. in Mountain View, California.Before joining Google, Alex spent eight years with IBM Research,winning three Outstanding Technical Achievement Awards.He won 13 as Senior Software Consultant at think3 inc, where he developed libraries, network protocols, GUI engines, event frameworks, and web access frontends. He won three more as a freelance consultant, working mostly for AB Strakt,a Python-centered software house in Goteborg, Sweden. Alex has also taught programming languages, development methods, and numerical computing at Ferrara University and other venues. Alex's proudest achievement is the articles that appeared in Bridge World(January/February 2000), which were hailed as giant steps toward solving
issues that had haunted contract-bridge theoreticians for decades.
The animal on the cover of Python in a Nutshell, Second Edition, is an African
rock python, one of approximately 18 species of python. Pythons are nonven-
omous constrictor snakes that live in tropical regions of Africa, Asia, Australia,
and some Pacific Islands. Pythons live mainly on the ground, but they are also
excellent swimmers and climbers. Both male and female pythons retain vestiges of
their ancestral hind legs. The male python uses these vestiges, or spurs, when
courting a female.
The python kills its prey by suffocation. While the snake’s sharp teeth grip and
hold the prey in place, the python’s long body coils around its victim’s chest,
constricting tighter each time it breathes out. They feed primarily on mammals
and birds. Python attacks on humans are extremely rare.