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Microsoft Tries Its Hand at Open Source


.NET apps made with IronPython beta already outpace rivals, claims creator

By Andy Patrizio
February 1, 2006 —  With the first beta release of IronPython, Microsoft is testing not just its first dynamic language, but also the first open-source project adopted for release under its own name, while preserving the open nature of the effort.

While other open-source developers have joined Microsoft—notably Wiki inventor Ward Cunningham—this is the first time Microsoft has adopted an open-source project to release with the Microsoft name.

IronPython is an implementation of the Python language for .NET started by Jim Hugunin, creator of Jython (Python for Java) and AspectJ. He was hired by Microsoft in late 2004 to continue work on IronPython, which at the time had a development community of one.

IronPython is written in C# and is available under the Microsoft Permissive License (Ms-PL), allowing developers to use, modify and freely redistribute the licensed code for both commercial and noncommercial purposes. Of the implementation, Hugunin said that he has “refused to compromise on Python language compatibility.”

According to Hugunin, the technology shows great performance potential. While the language was still in the alpha stages, Hugunin was claiming application performance nearly double that of Python 2.3. IronPython applications are compiled into bytecode and executed by an interactive interpreter and on-the-fly compiler, like standard Python.

However, IronPython also supports static compilation of Python code to produce executables, or static dynamic link libraries that can be called from other .NET languages, such as C# and Visual Basic.

Currently there are no plans to provide official support for IronPython in Visual Studio, but Hugunin said it will be a part of an SDK Microsoft plans to release later this year. Microsoft declined to give any details of what else the SDK would contain.

In an Active State
Hugunin said that Microsoft is willing to work with third parties interested in using the code, leaving open the possibility of third-party support.

One obvious choice to adopt IronPython would be ActiveState, maker of the Komodo IDE, which supports Python. David Ascher, managing director and chief technologist at ActiveState, said the company has known about IronPython since before it was a Microsoft project, and it is following the project’s progress. He thinks it’s possible for Komodo to support IronPython.

“Our early tests indicate that there are some current incompatibilities, but it’s likely that those will be ironed out soon,” he said. “Naturally, we’ll do what we need to do to ensure that if and when IronPython becomes commercially significant, it will be usable from Komodo,” he said.

Microsoft expects to release the final version some time this year. The beta code can be downloaded from workspaces.gotdotnet.com/ironpython..


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