O'Reilly's Jeremy Jones is reporting that Guido van Rossum, creator and lead developer of the Python programming language, is now working for Google.

My immediate reaction was “Not Heinemeir Hansson?” (The creator of Ruby on Rails, the much more buzzword-y framework for Web apps).

Seriously though, it’s long been known that Google extensively uses Python (and other, proprietary domain-specific languages and tools) internally. This is one of those practices that signal Google’s sophistication. In most organizations, you’ll find that all work is done with the “production” language – the language that is used to deliver value to the end-user. More sophisticated organizations recognize that exploration and exploitation often require different toolsets.

Personally, my favorite tool for exploration is Mathematica, which has a unique “notebook” interface that allows you to record your thoughts, embed pictures and media, and develop functionality.