While still a young language, Pike has matured over the last few years and development is now coordinated by a team at Roxen Internet Software AB . Pike is still released under the GNU General Public License, GPL . It is, and will continue to be, freely distributed. This means that you are free to use and modify the source code in any way you please. Roxen Internet Software maintains the right to the brand name and the copyright, guaranteeing that Pike will continue to be developed and enhanced, and remain free software.
Pike is easy to learn, and just as easy to use in the development of powerful applications.
The language is designed to be useful and powerful. As the syntax of Pike is similar to that of Java and C, most programmers will find it easy to use. Pike has evolved rather than been designed, and the changes made have been guided by its users' needs. Pike is just as suitable for large and intricate applications as for creating use-once scripts. When needed, you can also write Pike modules in C, to gain better performance or access C libraries.