Jython: Alive and Well (and looking for love)

I thought I'd make a diversion from my usual JRuby activities this weekend and ping the Jython dev list. I'd been lurking for a month or two, seeing almost no activity other than the occasional email, bug report, or request for help. There were perhaps 5 emails in the last month. Not good.

So I reached out to see if anyone was actually listening and to offer whatever support I can provide. As it turns out, there's still a dev team and a user community on the lists, though development has slowed almost to a standstill. There hasn't been a release in years, and Jython is currently about 2x slower than current CPython, while only supporting Python 2.1 semantics in the widely-available release.

But there's a light. The existing team and users are very much interested in getting Jython going again, and from my examination of the code it shouldn't be too difficult for new devs to get involved. Jython also has a pretty good story for compilation to Java bytecode--better than JRuby currently--so it has a strong base to start from.

So here's my request to folks reading this post: If you're a Python fan and a Java developer, now's your time to show devotion to both communities. The Jython guys could use some help, and the project could certainly use some new blood. It doesn't matter to me if you're not a Ruby fan, or heck, if Jython ends up reaching CPython 2.5 compatibility before we get a JRuby 1.0 release out. I'd just really like the JVM Python story to have a happy ending...and I think Jython's long slumber needs to come to an end.

Jython is available on SourceForge, and the existing dev team are friendly, enthusiastic folks. Post this entry to your blogs, send it to your friends, print up flyers and hand them out at your local Python or Java User Group meetings. Jython needs some love, and now is the age of dynlangs for the JVM. Stop by and lend them a hand...I have.

Ruby for the Web? Check!

Well friends, it's time for another episode of "Impossible Or Not!" Today's contender is Ruby in the browser, long desired but never achieved. There are front-ends to Ruby services, delicious Ruby-JavaScript libraries, and of course the ever-popular Ruby on Rails web framework. However, developers have been clamoring for something more.

IRB in an Applet

A long, long time ago in a web far away, there was born a bright-eyed new child named Java. Java found its first public uses in flashing, twirling, annoying buttons called Applets. It was also a bit slow, having just been released into the world. So the big bad public said "Java is slow and only useful for annoying buttons!" And so Java was branded the "slow annoying button" language.

But Java has grown up. It hid away from the public eye, dwelling in dark, dank servers and enterprises. It learned the value of five nines uptime and horizontal scalability. All the while, it improved its public face, preparing for a return home to its birthplace on the web.

Now Java has grown up. It has learned how to appease the enterprise gods while presenting itself to the web in beautiful, performant glory. And it has a new friend: Ruby.

Yes, JRuby can run in an applet. No, it's not that hard. No, the archive doesn't have to be this big (the applet above is about a 1.6MB JAR file, but it includes stuff it doesn't need). Yes, this means you could start writing stuff for web pages in Ruby. No, I'm not kidding.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Updated: I fixed the issues under Windows, so it should work for those of you that reported errors. Thanks for the heads up!