JPython?

[Jim Althoff]

As a very active JPython user, here is my take on it.

Yes, you can think of JPython as a mechanism
that lets you run "Python" in a Web browser that supports
Java.  You can also look at it as a mechanism for
adding scripting capability to Java applications.

But I think of it in a somewhat different way. 
JPython is a second implementation of Python
that uses the Java VM instead of the Python
runtime.  Why is this useful?  Because of the
following tradeoffs.  In JPython you don't have
access to Python C-based extension modules.
Bad, obviously.  But you do have access to
the basic core language structures and to
any Python modules implemented completely
in Python.  Neutral -- obviously you have this
in standard Python as well.  But, the real kicker
is this: with JPython you DO have complete 
access to ALL Java APIs.   Without having to 
do any work at all. No wrappers, no JNI, no CORBA
no anything.   Instant availability.  All in the
same JVM.

I am in a situation where I need to develop
huge applications and for various business
and other reasons I am absolutely committed
to using Java APIs (Swing for the UI, etc.).

Without JPython, Java is the only real choice
for programming the applications
since doing wrappers to make all Java APIs
available in Python is just not practical.

With JPython, though, I can develop all of my
applications using the Python language
(as opposed to the C-Python implementation)
and still make use of all the Java APIs.

Personally, I believe the Java APIs are 
gaining enormous momentum for applications
programming.  I think the ability to program
in a high-level, dynamic language like Python
while having seamless access to all of the Java 
APIs is a killer combination.

Jim



At 03:00 PM 10/13/99 -0500, Dan Star wrote:
>Let me see if I am understanding what JPython is.  Is it a just-in-time
>compiler that translates python code to java byte-code so that the
>python code can run in a WEB browser that supports java?  If so, I would
>assume this places many restricitions on the Python language elements
>you can use.  Or is JPython a seperate implementation of Python with its
>own language set?
>
>--Dan
>
>-- 
>http://www.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
>