"CNRI is gratified with the positive response to the beta releases of JPython. We think it is the perfect complement to Java," said Albert Vezza, vice president of CNRI. JPython is especially well suited for embedded scripting, interactive experimentation, prototyping applications, and building any system where programmer productivity is a primary concern. Its rich integration with Java allows programmers to freely mix JPython and Java code without giving up any of the advantages of either language.
"JPython is to Java and JavaBeans what Visual Basic(TM) is to C++ and Microsoft(TM) COM(TM) objects," said Nathan Sharp of Phoenix Integration. "The seamless integration easily makes JPython the most powerful scripting language for Java around."
JPython's integration with Java draws on the strengths of the Java platform. JPython code can easily access any existing Java libraries and JavaBeans. The Java virtual machine allows JPython to statically compile Python source code to Java bytecodes that will run anywhere that Java does. Through Java's support for dynamic class loading, JPython can dynamically compile Python code to allow interactive use while still achieving the performance of a true compiler.
Others are noticing and taking advantage of the power JPython provides to Java developers:
"Using JPython, we have complete access to our Java-based system software without writing new interfaces, hooks or wrappers," said Ken Swisz, Cougar Software Manager at KLA-Tencor Corp. "This gives our users all the power we can possibly provide at a relatively low investment in effort for us. The advantage in using JPython over other choices is tremendous. The language itself is well designed, and its object-oriented nature makes it a natural fit for Java. I have been recommending it to other organizations in the company for their use as a scripting language."
"The first generation of our CASE tool used Tcl as its integrated scripting language," said Dan Snider, president of Object Domain Systems Inc. "In developing Object Domain 2.0, we decided to instead use JPython. The transition was primarily motivated by the desire for an Object-Oriented scripting language, Python's cleaner syntax, and JPython's seamless integration with Object Domain's Java-based framework."
"By providing easy access to the rich Java graphics APIs, JPython is clearly the number one choice for developers of GUI applications," said Norman Shelley of Motorola Corp.
Guido van Rossum created the Python language in the early 1990s, and it has been used successfully in many interesting software projects since then. Steve Kirsch, the chairman of Infoseek Corp., describes his experiences with the language: "Over the past 30 years, I've written code in every major programming language. Python is my favorite programming language by a wide margin. It's an elegant, well-designed language that can be learned in a few hours. In addition, the code is easy to read and large systems are easy to maintain. There is simply no faster way to develop applications. A skilled Python programmer can, on average, crank out applications five times faster than a programmer in more traditional languages."
JPython completely implements the Python language in 100% Pure Java, and is freely available in both source and binary form. In order to implement Python's Perl5-compatible regular expressions, JPython includes the outstanding OROMatcher(TM) regular expression engine developed by Original Reusable Objects(TM) at http://www.oroinc.com. By agreement, this regular expression engine is only distributed in binary form. JPython can be found at http://www.python.org/jpython.
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