Jython

Infobox Software
name = Jython



caption =
developer =
latest release version = 2.2.1
latest release date = 13 October, 2007
latest preview version = 2.5 Alpha 3
latest preview date = 10 September, 2008
operating system = Cross-platform
platform = Java Virtual Machine
programming language = Python and Java
genre = Python Programming Language Interpreter
license = mixed, see License terms
website = [http://www.Jython.org www.Jython.org]

Jython, successor of JPython, is an implementation of the Python programming language written in Java.

Overview

Jython programs can seamlessly import and use any Java class. Except for some standard modules, Jython programs use Java classes instead of Python modules. Jython includes almost all of the modules in the standard Python programming language distribution, lacking only some of the modules implemented originally in C. For example, a user interface in Jython would be written with Swing, AWT or SWT. Jython compiles to Java bytecode (intermediate language) either on demand or statically.

Jython also includes [http://www.jython.org/docs/jythonc.html jythonc] , a compiler that converts Python source code into Java bytecode. This allows Python programmers to write classes which can be fully utilized by a Java program.

License terms

Jython is released under a mix of three licenses: [cite web
url=http://www.jython.org/Project/license.html
title=The Jython License
publisher=Jython's project
accessdate=2008-02-09] the Python Software Foundation License (v2), the Jython 2.0, 2.1 license, and the JPython 1.1.x Software License. The first two are permissive free software licenses. The third also appears to be but this is unclear because neither Free Software Foundation or Open Source Initiative have reviewed and commented on it.

History

Jim Hugunin created Jython in late 1997, and developed it until 1999. In February 1999, Barry Warsaw took over as the primary developer. In October 2000, Jython moved to SourceForge. For a long time, Samuele Pedroni did most of the work to maintain and develop Jython. To the end of 2004, Pedroni stepped down as the primary developer to concentrate his effort to PyPy, but he is still considered the authority on Jython internals. In January 2005, Brian Zimmer received a grant from the Python Software Foundation to develop Jython. In December 2005, Frank Wierzbicki succeeded Zimmer as the primary developer. During 2005, development was slow due to lack of knowledgeable developers.

On March 3, 2008, it was announced that Sun Microsystems hired Ted Leung and Frank Wierzbicki to work on Jython and Python, similar to Sun's hiring of two JRuby developers. [cite web
url=http://www.sauria.com/blog/2008/03/03/the-sun-is-going-to-shine-on-python
title=The Sun is going to shine on Python
date=2008-03-03
accessdate=2008-03-03
last=Leung|name=Fred] Development progresses steadily, [cite web
url=http://wiki.python.org/jython/WhosDoingWhat
title=WhosDoingWhat
publisher=Jython's Wiki
date=2007-12-29
accessdate=2008-02-09] [cite web
url=http://headius.blogspot.com/2008/01/jythons-back-baby.html
title=Jython's Back, Baby!
last=Nutter|first=Charles
date=2008-01-03
accessdate=2008-02-09] and Jython can now even run Django, a Python framework comparable to Ruby on Rails. [cite web
url=http://zyasoft.com/pythoneering/2008/01/django-on-jython-minding-gap.html
title=Django on Jython: Minding the Gap
last=Baker|first=Jim
date=2008-01-03
accessdate=2008-02-17]

tatus and roadmap

The current release is Jython-2.2.1. It includes improvements to Java integration and implements the same set of language features as CPython 2.2. CPython 2.5 is targeted for the next release [cite web
url=http://www.jython.org/Project/roadmap.html
title=Jython Roadmap
publisher=Jython's Project
accessdate=2007-05-09] .

Developments are going steady and an alpha version of the corresponding Jython 2.5 release has been available since July 2008 [cite web
url=http://zyasoft.com/pythoneering/2008/06/flipping-25-bit-for-jython.html
title= Flipping the 2.5 Bit for Jython
last=Baker|first=Jim
date=2008-06-24
accessdate=2008-07-12] [cite web
url=http://fwierzbicki.blogspot.com/2008/07/jython-25-alpha-released.html
title= Jython 2.5 Alpha Released!
last=Wierzbicki|first=Frank
date=2008-07-15
accessdate=2008-07-16] [cite web
url=http://zyasoft.com/pythoneering/2008/06/flipping-25-bit-for-jython.html
title= Flipping the 2.5 Bit for Jython
last=Baker|first=Jim
date=2008-06-24
accessdate=2008-07-12] .

Usage

* Jython is one of two scripting languages (with Jacl) used in WebSphere Application Server. It is used in IBM Rational development tools, where Jython projects can be created using wizards.

ee also

* BEA WebLogic Application Server's "wlst" tool scripting using Jython
* IBM WebSphere Application Server's "wsadmin" tool scripting using Jython
* E is another dynamic language targeted at the JVM (and also targeted at Lisp).
* Groovy is another dynamic language targeted at the JVM.
* Jacl is a Java implementation of Tcl, similar to Jython.
* JRuby is a Java implementation of Ruby, similar to Jython.
* IronPython is an implementation of Python for .NET and Mono, originally created by Jython's creator, Jim Hugunin.
* ZK is a Java Ajax framework that allows glue logic written in Jython.

References

External links

* [http://www.jython.org/ Jython Home Page]
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/jython/ Jython Sourceforge Page]
* [http://jython.sourceforge.net/docs/differences.html differences between CPython and Jython]
* [http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-jython.html Charming Jython: Learn how the Java implementation of Python can aid your development efforts]
* [http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/j-alj07064/ Get to know Jython]
* [http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0404yang/index.html Learn how to write DB2 JDBC tools in Jython]
* [http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2002/03/27/jython.html Tips for Scripting Java with Jython]
* [http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2002/04/11/jythontips.html Jython tips for Python programmers]
* [http://www.jython.org/Project/license.html Jython license information]
* [http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-11-2007/jw-11-jsr223.html Scripting on the Java platform]
* [http://www.fishandcross.com/blog/?page_id=214 Jython Bibliography]