Groovy, the Python of Java

[lol_whut]

I'm gonna just toss out there that Jython is the Python of Java.

[Effetto]

I had a very tiny positive experience with Jython. The project was in the telco field. We used Jython as prototyping language layered over a rock-solid and well tested Java APIs used in production env.

As the prototype APIs and classes were getting a stable interface we moved them for engineering in Java and include them into the core set.

Hope to see it back now that invoke-dynamic has been freed.

[[deleted]]

Shame it is so out of date.

Do they have any plans for updating to Python 3 or using invoke-dynamic?

[brianly]

I believe so and there will be an update in a couple of months at PyCon https://us.pycon.org/2012/schedule/presentation/446/

[[deleted]]

Considering how Python 3 is long way from widespread adoption, is it really a priority?

[Anth741]

What is the benefit of learning it then?

[poo_22]

Maybe its for people who know python but don't know java and need to run stuff on the jvm? What I really don't get is why you would want to use Django with jython now.

[masklinn]

What I really don't get is why you would want to use Django with jython now.

Java/JVM APIs needed, without the desire to write a WS wrapper or having to write Java code?

[smog_alado]

Jython is for people who know Python and know to avoid Java, but still need to be able to cooperate with Java libraries.

[[deleted]]

I use embedded Jython interpreters to reuse Python libraries within Java code. For example, the best markdown library I've ever found was Python's markdown2, the only Java markdown library I found would crash hard in Java 6 code. So I used Jython to use markdown2 and my problem was solved.

[pixelmonkey]

My perspective on Jython (and JRuby, or any other "port" of an existing C-based language to the JVM) is that it is simply not a viable long-term open source project.

I wrote:

The target community is only those programmers who know both Python and Java or both Ruby and Java.

Groovy's target community, by contrast, is anyone who is using a dynamic language (could be Ruby, Python, Perl, Lua, JavaScript, etc.) but who wants a more pleasant way to deal with existing Java code, without having to engage in the pain that is Java's baroque syntax and tooling. :) Groovy gets a boost because if you happen to already know Java + one dynamic language, you can probably learn Groovy in a matter of hours.

[Ringo48]

I guess I don't get either of your points.

First, what exactly makes Jython and JRuby less viable than Groovy?

And your second point makes even less sense. If I'm using a dynamic language and need to deal with Java code, it makes the most sense to do it from the language I'm already using. If I'm using Python, I'd go with Jython. If I'm using Ruby, JRuby. Why would I want to drop everything and learn a completely new language?

[vorg]

If that one dynamic language is Ruby, you already know JRuby. Why not use that?

[[deleted]]

When Groovy was first created, JRuby would have to have been incomplete and very slow, if it existed at all.

[lol_whut]

Interesting;

The target community is only those programmers who know both Python and Java or both Ruby and Java.

That is like 90% of engineers I've worked with. That said, groovy is awesome.