Python Is Really Middleware

[stevencooper at isomedia.com]

On Fri, Aug 03, 2001 at 12:55:57AM +1000, Peter Mayne wrote:
> .Net is the most recent popular example of this. Given the library support,
> it doesn't matter what language you use, and you can therefore use the best
> language for the task at hand. With .Net, you can use Fortran for the
> numeric modules, COBOL for the "traditional" database heavy lifting modules,
> and Python.Net to tie those modules together. (Yes, all three of those are
> or will be available for .Net.) You can even subclass your Fortran classes
> using Eiffel.Net, and subclass those with COBOL, whereas CPython can only be
> subclassed by, or from, more CPython. (Or C extensions, which is probably
> beyond the scope of this epistle.) Can someone please point out why being
> restricted to CPython is better here?
> 
> Note that .Net is *not* offering a core language, but a Common Language
> Runtime (CLR) upon which you can layer any language you like, and all of the
> languages will interact happily with each other. (I'm not recommending .Net
> in this post, just using it as a currently widely known example. Nor am I
> arguing that Microsoft may or may not be leading you up a garden path - I'm
> just using it as a technical example.)

Glad you added that last parenthetical statement. :-)

I would just like to stress that glue layers like .NET, Corba and COM
must always provide the lowest common denominator.  For example, can
you add attributes to a Python object through Fortran via the .NET
layer.

You need these higher level glue layers when you must interoperate
between large diverse components.  You have no choice if Fortran must
call into Eiffel.  If you want the power of Python you must use
"thinner glue".

Cheers,
Steve

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 Steve Cooper          Redmond, WA