Today, Microsoft released IronPython 1.0. Iron Python is the speedy Python implementation written to run atop the CLR. Incredibly, it runs the standard pystone benchmark 1.7 times faster than CPython. Of particular interest, is Microsoft’s decision to release IronPython under an open source BSD-style license.
Jim Hugunin provides a short history of the IronPython project, including this gem:
I wanted to understand how Microsoft could have screwed up so badly that the CLR was a worse platform for dynamic languages than the JVM. My plan was to take a couple of weeks to build a prototype implementation of Python on the CLR and then to use that work to write a short pithy article called, “Why the CLR is a terrible platform for dynamic languages”. My plans quickly changed as I worked on the prototype, because I found that Python could run extremely well on the CLR[...][1]
I’m excited to see Microsoft’s continued commitment to making the CLR a viable platform for dynamic languages. A language-neutral runtime—including a sizable standard library—is a boon to all who develop new programming languages.
[1] IronPython 1.0 released today!
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