Jonathan Hartley reviews IronPython in Action
Jonathan Hartley is a colleague of mine at Resolver Systems where we have been working full time with IronPython for the last few years. I finally managed to blackmail him into actually reading IronPython in Action. Despite this he seemed to genuinely enjoy it and has posted a glowing review. The first paragraphs of the review have some interesting things to say about the place of IronPython in the Python world, which is the section I've quoted below:
Jonathan Hartley Reviews IronPython in Action
Having spent some years working with .NET, and with a series of intriguing personal experiments in Python under my belt, I originally approached IronPython some years ago with a modicum of of trepidation. I feared that the weld between the two would be intrusively visible, forming distracting differences from regular Python. I feared for the execution environment, the data types, and perhaps even the syntax itself.
Experience with IronPython showed these worries were needless. I have found IronPython to be a remarkably pleasant marriage – the same elegant language we know and love, given first-class status in the .NET runtime. Gifted with seamless interoperability with other .NET languages, the dowry from such an alliance turns out to be all the .NET libraries in the world, including the substantial and highly capable .NET standard libraries themselves.
IronPython is, to some extent, a niche implementation of a niche language. However, its position seems to potentially be one of importance and strength. Not only does it allow Python programmers to use .NET libraries – and does so admirably, but it also allows the existing legions of .NET programmers to be introduced to the joys of Python. They will fall in love with it, and will be able to introduce it into their workplaces in a way that is politically acceptable. After all, it is now simply another .NET language. Since .NET is orders of magnitude more popular than Python, this could yet turn out to be the most important source of future Python adoption.