Lately I’ve been reading about Python and I was curious to see who is actively using Python…below is a list of some prominent organizations and applications I found with a little bit of Google leg work. The list is abbreviated, but you can find the full list here.
Yahoo! Maps
Yahoo acquired Four11, whose address and mapping lookup services were implemented in Python. Yahoo Maps still uses Python today, as can be seen by examing its URLs.
Yahoo! Groups
A comprehensive public archive of Internet mailing lists that was originally implemented in pure Python. At one point Scott Hassan, one of the founders of Findmail/eGroups (the company that was later acquired by Yahoo), reported that they had 180,000 lines of Python underlying everything from their 100% dynamic website to all email delivery, pumping out 200 messages/second on a single 400 MHz Pentium.
Many components of the Google spider and search engine are written in Python.
Zope
Zope Corporation has developed a powerful Web application server using Python that’s available as free software.
Sid Meier’s Civilization 4
The new addition to the legendary strategy game series has all its inner logic, including AI, implemented in Python. The interface is exposed, so the modding community can easily take advantage of it.
Walt Disney
Walt Disney Feature Animation is also using Python to add scriptability to their animation production system.
Industrial Light and Magic
ILM uses Python in the production of their FX, as described in the RenderMan Course Notes from Siggraph 2001 (they name “The Phantom Menace”, “The Mummy Returns” and other productions as ones where Python was used…).
NASA
Johnson Space Center uses Python in its Integrated Planning System as the standard scripting language. Efforts are underway to develop a modular collection of tools for assisting shuttle pre-mission planning and to replace older tools written in Perl and shell dialects. Python will also be installed in the new Mission Control Center to perform auxiliary processing integrated with a user interface shell. Ongoing developments include an automated grammar based system whereby C++ libraries may be interfaced directly to Python via compiler techniques. This technology can be extended to other languages in the future.