January 4, 2006 8:16 AM PST
Microsoft embraces open-source scripting language
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IronPython 1.0 Beta 1, which was released at the end of last week, is "well integrated" with the rest of the .Net programming framework and allows all .Net libraries to be "easily" accessed by Python programmers, according to Microsoft.
Microsoft's support for Python could help the software giant attract Unix developers to the Windows platform, as it is a commonly used scripting language on the Unix platform, according to Salim Fadhley, who develops Python programs for Unix.
"If Microsoft embraces Python, it could be a big draw for Unix hackers--if our favorite language was supported as a first-tier language by a major software vendor, it would be a major draw to Windows. At the moment, most Python developers hack on Mac and Linux," Fadhley said. "IronPython could be a massive landgrab by Microsoft into the domain of traditional Unix scripting."
But Microsoft isn't the only organization trying to bring .Net support to other platforms--it will have to compete with the open-source Mono project, which aims to bring .Net support to non-Microsoft operating systems including Unix.
Microsoft has not said whether it will add IronPython support to its Visual Studio tools suite, but many believe that it will. These rumors were further fueled by the news in December that software vendor ActiveState is dropping support for its Visual Python product, a Visual Studio plug-in for the scripting language.
Fadhley, who is also an open-source developer for the Plone content management system and Zope application server projects, said open-source developers are more likely to consider using Visual Studio for software development if it supported Python.
"My opinion is that it's going to appeal to open sourcers who are normally very suspicious of Microsoft. I would never normally be seen using Microsoft Visual Studio, however, this might just tip the balance away from other products, like IBM's Eclipse," Fadhley said. "But for the foreseeable future, I shall still be using Eclipse on Linux or Mac, which are very mature platforms for Python."
Microsoft has not said when the final release of IronPython 1.0 will be ready, but the project team said there are unlikely to be more than 10 beta releases.
The IronPython beta can be downloaded from the Microsoft Web site.
Ingrid Marson of Builder UK reported from London.
See more CNET content tagged:
Python,
Unix,
Microsoft .NET,
Microsoft Visual Studio,
scripting language
Taking over Ecclipse? uhn uh.
Ecclipse is a 100% opensource soultion unlike the VisStu environment.
VB.NET, C#, COBOL.NET, and now this, all take the specific language and compile to the same MSIL, similar to the way that Java is turned into byte code. MSIL is then JIT-compiled to the platform it's running on, which at least for Microsoft is either the 32-bit or 64-bit framework. That's it.
Of course they want you to code for their platform. They are a business. But what I find interesting is the shift away from charging for the tools and keeping the costs associated with the server products. You have always, since the early betas, been able to download the framework and compilers for free. Now you can even download and use the IDE's for free, and in a production environment.
cheers.
For MS this move does two things.
1. For the first time, MS can say they support platform independent computing right out of the box... But I'm guessing, if they haven't already, it's only a matter of time before they load up their version of Python with all sorts of special calls to deeply ingrained Windows-only API's, making it, and any script written for it, Windows-only.
2. By throwing their considerable weight behind the least popular of the big-3 platform-independent scripting languages (Perl, PHP way ahead, and Python a distant third), they have helped to splinter platform-independent developers (divide-and-conquer has been around a bit longer than MS, but it's a nice complement to their already-perfected embrace-and-destroy motif, don't you think?).
Also, anybody who would argue that Microsoft does anything out of a sense of integrity or correctness should probably Google "Zhao Jing" Who's American hosted blog about Chinese politics has been shut down by MSN on behalf of Chinese political leaders.
Any programmer who uses ironpython is not a real python programmer, rather a pretend one.
The Internet is open and most software under development today is open. MS is one of the few who are closed and still in the dark ages.
The Internet Age is an age of openess. MS is not a true Internet company. They are stuck in the 90s attitude of 'here is some software in a box for $500'. That concept is running a bit thin these days.
Open Source offers so much choice that .net is definately a much smaller and limited world.
So is Mono, there is no "special licensing" deal of any kind.
Your comment is fairly missinformed.