The creators of the Python language are mulling a new proposal, PEP 622, that would finally bring a pattern matching statement syntax to Python. The new pattern matching statements would give Python programmers more expressive ways of handling structured data, without having to resort to workarounds. Pattern matching is a common feature of many programming languages, such as switch/case in C. It allows one of a number of possible actions to be taken based on the value of a given variable or expression. While Python has lacked a native syntax for pattern matching, it has been possible to emulate it with if/elif/else chains or a dictionary lookup. Supported pattern match types include literals, names, constant values, sequences, a mapping (basically, the presence of a key-value pair in the expression), a class, a mixture of the above, or any of those plus conditional expressions.

IN DECEMBER 1989 Guido van Rossum, a Dutch computer scientist, set himself a Christmas project. Irked by shortcomings in other programming languages, he wanted to build his own. First, it should be easy to read. Rather than sprawling over line-endings and being broken up by a tangle of curly braces, each chunk would be surrounded with indented white space. Second, it should let users create their own packages of special-purpose coding modules, which could then be made available to others to form the basis of new programs.

Over the last decade, knowledge has become the key driver for productivity and economic growth. Professional services providers like accountants and lawyers have benefited from this strong knowledge economy. These professionals have a combination of knowledge and expertise that makes them uniquely qualified for solving specific problems. Until recently, this industry has been relatively untouched by disruption. Machine learning is changing this equation.

It was the week of Christmas in 1989 in Amsterdam, 48* F and cloudy, when Guido van Rossum started tinkering on a small project to busy himself while his employer's office closed for the holiday. He placed a high emphasis on readability and uniformity in an era that praised languages like C and Perl (PHP's high-maintenance personality would crash the party later). The result was a gorgeously elegant open source language named after Monty Python's Flying Circus. Since its official release in 1993, Python has displayed its prowess across multiple industries and in widely varying use cases. It is now the most widely taught introductory language in the top computer science programs worldwide, was named the most in-demand programming language in the U.S. by Forbes' fintech columnist, and hit #2 on the list of most GitHub pulls by language in 2017.