Find the first N primes

generate_primes.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
import time

def is_prime(number):
    ''' Check if number is a prime number '''
    if number >= 2:
        for y in range(2,number):
            if number % y == 0:
                return False
    else:
        return False
    return True

def generate_primes(length):
    ''' Create a list of primes '''
    prime_list = [1, 2]
    current_num = 3
    while len(prime_list) <= length:
        if is_prime(current_num):
            print 'Found Prime: %d (%d)' % (current_num, len(prime_list))
            prime_list.append(current_num)
        # No point going over even numbers as they all divide in 2
        current_num += 2
    return prime_list


def main():
    start_time = time.time()
    target = 10001
    print generate_primes(target)
    print 'Total Runtime: %s seconds' % (time.time() - start_time)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()