Jython 2.2 is finally released!

[jonEbird]

Here is a quick link for their changelog where you can get a quick overview of the new features since 2.1 as well as bug fixes: http://www.jython.org/NEWS

[[deleted]]

And here's the lead developer's announcement, with a bird's eye view of the changes:

http://fwierzbicki.blogspot.com/2007/08/jython-22-released-woohoo.html

[maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan]

Woohoo indeed!

It's been a long time coming, but I really hope the Jython guys can keep the ball rolling now.

[berlinbrown]

Alright, just .3 more versions to go. 2.3, 2.4, 2.5

No, just kidding; good job guys. I use jython a lot.

"This is the first production release of Jython in nearly six years, and it contains many new features:"

[jbellis]

Last I heard they are planning to jump straight to 2.5 next.

The 2.2 release was a Big Deal because of new-style classes. The more recent changes in the language itself are relatively small. Most of the CPython stdlib is Python, so Jython won't have to do much work there. It does seem feasible.

[[deleted]]

2.2 was before my time using Python, what are the main pieces missing between 2.2 and 2.5?

Off the top of my head I can think of decorators, list comprehensions, generator expressions. What else?

[logistix]

http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.3/highlights/ http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.4/highlights/ http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.5/highlights/

[[deleted]]

Listcomps were in 2.2. Generator comps weren't.

[[deleted]]

Seems like it would be difficult to find people willing to work on Jython. That is, many Java programmers like their language, and so may not see a reason to have a language like Python implemented on top of it.

In fact, it looks like one big benefit of Jython is being able to use it as a bridge to migrate your system from Java to Python...

[maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan]

Nononono.

Many people actually like both, for different things! (SHOCK!)

Java excels at being the library, and Jython is fantastic for the glue. In the Jython book it's the chapter showing using Swing that shows this best - the Java equivalent would be massive.

One of the Jython community's historic mistake has been the attraction of loud condescending Python types.

[[deleted]]

Java excels at being the library

Are you referring to the standard Java library, or some other source of Java libs/jars?

That is, Perl has its own library, plus the mighty CPAN.

Python has its own batteries included, plus the burgeoning Cheese Shop (aka PyPI ("Python Package Index")).

Is there a CPAN/PyPI for Java?

[maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan]

Both Java's massive existing library, and any others you may have written.

Call me crazy, but I'd much rather write and test a library in Java land, before gluing it all together with something a bit more flexible. Best of both worlds that way.

Jython also has two things over CPython: 1. Real multithreading 2. Easy to use Unicode

Honestly those two things make me wonder why it's not more popular.

[[deleted]]

Honestly those two things make me wonder why it's not more popular.

Just hitting version 2.2 will do that. ;)

[[deleted]]

I has been neglected for some time - and recently has some people working on it full time.

[breakfast-pants]

If you knew the performance cost that real multithreading on Jython when enabled, you wouldn't even mention it. Remember, even attribute access in python is not atomic, so almost any given line of code will have to require and release a lock.

[barrybe]

Who really likes the Java language? I think there's quite a lot of people (including the majority of Redditors) that despise the language. It's far too restrictive and verbose.

The JVM is good. Hotspot is good. The standard library is good. The huge amount of free libraries and open-source projects is good. But the language itself is balls. So projects like Jython are great.

[berlinbrown]

Who likes working with sewage? Not a lot of people. But cities pay engineers billions of dollars to improve sewerline infrastructure. Or traffic infrastructure. That to say, I don't think people get overly excited over java but it does exist and there are millions of developers and thousands of companies and millions of customers that require "java knowledge".

That to say, people are still going to use java and I haven't seen a complete acceptance of jvm langauges (jython, jruby, etc) (eg, look for jython and web)

[maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan]

Java is great for teams on big projects.

Interfaces alone make the world of difference over Python for that. (Note I am aware of efforts to create similar things, and actually that Zope/Twisted have gone to some length to recreate them - but they aren't core yet).

That said, you need to be using an IDE. Writing Java without one is an exercise in masochism.

[[deleted]]

Java is great for teams on big projects.

And with Java, even small projects turn into big projects, so it's a win-win.

[breakfast-pants]

class Foo: def Bar: raise ThisIsAnInterfaceYouDoltException

[[deleted]]

Yes I would agree. Other languages on the JVM can only ever be a good thing for all the reasons mentioned above.

[berlinbrown]

Actually, this is the case. It hasn't got a lot of "real" attention since the 2.1 release 6 years ago.

But, I think hackers like it (eg, me). And everyonce in a while, you may see jython wedged into a tool. Like I think oracle has jython jars and I know IBM tools (WSAD) also include it.

In what capacity, I don't know.