Fredrik Lundh has died • Hacker News Board

It is easy to take for granted an import and the life force that went into creating that code. That PIL and the pillow fork exist can seem to be a matter of course but they are gifts. Many thanks to Fredrik Lundh.

Re: Fredrik Lundh has died

#25

Post by f311a » Sun, Dec 12, 2021, 5:07 PM UTC

Sad news. He also wrote a lot of articles: https://web.archive.org/web/20190222003219/http://effbot.org...

Re: Fredrik Lundh has died

#26

Post by chirau » Sun, Dec 12, 2021, 5:42 PM UTC

import re

Rest in peace effbot

Re: Fredrik Lundh has died

#27

Post by indrora » Sun, Dec 12, 2021, 5:45 PM UTC

Effbot was a voice of clarity when I went to learn Python, long before 2 was ready to collect dust on the shelf.

I picked up the Python Standard Library book used after reading some apress book on Python. The book was clear and a good guide to the language, honestly one of the reasons I began to push people to learn it.

Later, I probably ran into him on irc.

I've used PIL, and later Pillow, as well as ElementTree in personal and professional work. Without him, I suspect part of my professional life wouldn't have happened. Funny how that is.

My thoughts go out to his family. I can't imagine what it's like to discover just how many lives he touched.

Re: Fredrik Lundh has died

#28

Post by paganel » Sun, Dec 12, 2021, 5:57 PM UTC

JasonFruit wrote: post #20

If anyone is responsible for Python's success, after Guido, it's Fredrik Lundh. When I was learning Python, it was his libraries and his documentation I kept using and learning from. I feel this one more personally than others, even though I never interacted with him.

I used his Tkinter docs to write my first real Python program, in 2003. Two years later I was getting my first job as a Python programmer, that’s still what I do for a living. RIP to Fredrik, his work changed life for the better for many of us.

Re: Fredrik Lundh has died

#29

Post by noufalibrahim » Sun, Dec 12, 2021, 5:59 PM UTC

The library that I first used which got me stuck to Python was Tkinter. It was a welcome relief from building GUIs using GTK in C. The documentation which I used was from effbot (which seems to be offline now) http://web.archive.org/web/20180802131839/http://effbot.org/.... That led me to making Python my "primary language" when it still wasn't very popular and shaped my career.

I think it's hard, if not impossible, to overestimate how many lives Mr. Lundh's work has touched and improved over the course of his career. RIP.

Re: Fredrik Lundh has died

#30

Post by chubot » Sun, Dec 12, 2021, 6:11 PM UTC

I’m very sad to hear this, but I’m glad it was shared, and it’s great to see his work appreciated. His effbot site helped me a lot early in my career. I even visited last year because I hadn’t seen it around in quite awhile. Best wishes to all who knew him.