Thursday, June 02, 2005

Guido did not create Python!

Well, you and me know that the title of this post is not true, but that is not what Mark Joseph Edwards would have us believe, given a chance.

In an article on Windows IT Pro Magazine introducing IronPython, he writes...

"You might have heard of Python, a popular and powerful cross-platform open-source programming language. Python, which is the creation of Jim Hugunin..."

I am not sure how many Pythonistas read Windows IT Pro, but I won't suggest it to someone who is new to Python, for reasons that are very clear. :-)

IronPython, Boo and Smallscript

What do the terms IronPython,Boo and Smallscript have in common?

Well, before you type an entry into dictionary.com, let me tell
you that these are all relatively new language implementations for the CLR provided by the .NET platform.

IronPython is a supposedly faster implementation of CPython for .NET, which allows you to extend Python on .NET with C# and other .NET static languages.

Boo is a new, statically typed OO language for .NET with a Python-inspired syntax, but without it's dynamic typing overhead. Boo claims to be as fast as C# or VB.net on the .NET platform.

Smallscript provides the new S# language, a modular re-design of the Smalltalk language, designed to work with .NET and the AOS common language platform which supports dynamic languages.

IronPython had initially hogged the limelight, but after the
creator Jim Hugunin was appointed by Microsoft, it has become something of a one-man-show instead of becoming a true peer reviewed open source project.