IronPython URLs

The genius of IronPython is that it provides great integration with .NET libraries. The cost of this is that you no longer have access to Python extensions implemented in C unless the IronPython team, or a third party, has created an equivalent version in C# or wrapping an existing .NET library. One very powerful and widely used set of Python extensions come in the form of NumPy and SciPy . This is a particular problem for those interested in IronPython as there is nothing of equivalent functionality and quality in the .NET world. There is an existing way of accessing Python C extensions from IronPython in the form of Ironclad . Ironclad was specifically designed to work with NumPy, and it works astonishingly well, but it can never be as good as a native library. Microsoft are obviously very interested in NumPy as they have just announced an interesting partnership with Enthought , a company who are active in the Scientific Python community. The partnership is specifically to br

At PyCon this year Dino Veihland announced IronPython Tools for Visual Studio, an extension to Visual Studio 2010 for working with IronPython. It features Python syntax highlighting, awesome auto-complete (intellisense) and a host of other features for working with IronPython code in Visual Studio. It can be used with the free Visual Studio shell and doesn't require you to own a full copy of Visual Studio. The third CTP (Community Technology Preview) has been made available for download. IronPython Tools for Visual Studio We are happy to announce a minor update to the IronPython Tools for Visual Studio.  IronPython Tools for Visual Studio (IPyTools) is a set of extensions available for Visual Studio 2010 which supports development of IronPython applications.  This release is our 3rd Community Technical Preview (CTP) and builds upon the previous two releases.  The release is a minor update which includes bug fixes and a number of small features.  You can download the latest rel

IronPython is a great language for application development, but also provides a readymade scripting engine for adding to .NET applications. A fresh example of the first, an application written in IronPython, is the open source "Iron Web Analyzer" (Windows only I believe): Iron Web Analyzer - Analyze Web Sites with Iron Python Iron Web Analyzer is an open source application for web masters to analyze web sites content. Iron Web analyzer employ Iron Python to analyze server responed data. Iron Web Analyzer downloads data from server and dispatches them between Iron Python Analyzer installed on application and collect analyze results produced by Python applications. An example of the second use case for IronPython is the recently announced support for IronPython scripting in TIBCO Spotfire: Using Script Controls to automate tasks in TIBCO Spotfire and TIBCO Spotfire Web Player In TIBCO Spotfire version 3.1, TIBCO introduces the concept of Script Controls. Scripts Controls

Two weeks ago I reported on the latest news from SharpDevelop, the integration of unittest into SharpDevelop 4 for testing with IronPython. In my report I suggested that supporting unittest2 would be even better and Matt Ward has risen to the challenge. Matt's latest blog entry shows how to use unittest2 to run IronPython unit tests in the forthcoming SharpDevelop 4 IDE: SharpDevelop and unittest2 for Python SharpDevelop 4 has been updated to support running IronPython unit tests that use the unittest2 library. Make sure unittest2 is on the Python path before running the unit tests. Out of the box SharpDevelop will actually use the unittest library's test runner. This seems to work however if you actually need to use the unittest2 test runner then you can modify the following two files in the folder:  AddIns\AddIns\BackendBindings\PythonBinding\TestRunner . sdtest.py  sdtestrunner.py

TechEd 2010 has just finished, one of Microsoft's biggest developer conferences. Lisa Feigenbaum, who is program manager for the Visual Studio Languages Community, has posted a blog entry with links to all the  Visual Studio Language & IDE Resources from TechEd North America 2010 (C#, VB, F#, IronPython, IronRuby). Our own inestimable Dino Viehland, the IronPython workhorse and genius, was there and gave two presentations on IronPython: USING DYNAMIC LANGUAGES TO BUILD SCRIPTABLE APPLICATIONS Abstract: The Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) brings the power of dynamic languages to Microsoft .NET. It provides the plumbing for IronPython and IronRuby, a shared language hosting API, and also enables interoperability with static languages like C# and Visual Basic. Come hear how you can leverage these technologies in your own applications, and learn why dynamic languages deserve a spot in your toolbox! IRONPYTHON TOOLS  Abstract: IronPython Tools for Visual Studio is an extensio

Two fun, and possibly useful, recipes using IronPython have surfaced in blog entries recently. Re.Mark: Finding Lyrics This first recipe is from Mark Bloodworth, a Microsoft architect with a fondness for Python and IronPython: I was looking some lyrics up online this week, so I wondered how hard to would be to write a simple application to find lyrics to your favourite song.  Or to your least favourite song.  Or, in fact, to any arbritrary song.  Via programmableweb , I found the API to lyricsfly , which looked easy to use.  Another IronPython console app beckoned. Keeping it simple, I decided to use optparse to parse the command-line options and urllib to make the http calls.  This way the program can be called with the user_id that lyricsfly requires (head to their website and you can get a temporary weekly key to try this out) along with the artist name and song title.  What I decided not to do at this stage was to process the resulting XML.  Or handle any errors.  Or handle cas

Microsoft may have finally pulled out their collective thumbs and started to support IronPython in Visual Studio , but SharpDevelop has always led the way as far back as 2007 in supporting IronPython. SharpDevelop 4 is now under development and integrates with the unittest module to support unit testing with IronPython. This feature requires Python 2.6 to be installed, and IronPython debugging is not currently working with SharpDevelop 4, but it looks like it will a great release. Matt Ward gives us the details in his latest entry on the SharpDevelop community blog: Unit Testing with IronPython SharpDevelop 4 has been updated to support unit testing with IronPython. First you will need to install Python 2.6. SharpDevelop uses the standard Python unit test library (unittest.py) to run the unit tests. ... Once the project reference is added the unit tests can be run in the normal way by right clicking in the Unit Tests window and selecting Run tests. You can run all the tests i

Another collection of IronPython and DLR related articles from recent weeks. Jim Hugunin: Modelling the World Jim Hugunin is a bit of a Python veteran. As well as being the creator of two implementations of Python (Jython and IronPython), he also started the Numpy project (back when it was called Numeric). Not long ago he was swallowed by Microsoft, who also took on the development of IronPython and turning it into the Dynamic Language Runtime. In this video interview Jim explains not only how he got involved in Python, but also what he has been up to recently. IronPython Tools for Visual Studio with Expression Blend One of the ways that .NET helps you separate your visual design from your application logic is through XAML; an XML based declarative language that can be used with both Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Silverlight. Naturally there are design tools that will generate XAML. Visual Studio is one of them, but the best one is Expression Blend. XAML has features