Parrot for Python

[Sridhar R]

Hi,

I come across the Parrot project. Seems like it is a better
compromising alternative for .NET and Java. That is, we can develop
applications in Python (for productivity) and still can interact with
components written in other languages, as they were compiled to the
parrot byte code.

But my concern is, how will Python interoperate with Parrot. Since,
Python has strong interospection, won't it be difficult to generate
parrot code from python source file.

For doing a simple attribute reference,
a.b = 10

the parrot code will be bigger (dict find, get, assign ...)

Another question.

Why is Java so popular than Python. Are the technologies for Java
available for Python (no ... no jython)? We can implement them in
python if we want. But the difference is speed.

 

[Valentino Volonghi aka Dialtone]

Why is Java so popular than Python. Are the technologies for Java
available for Python (no ... no jython)? We can implement them in
python if we want. But the difference is speed.

There is no reason... Sun is behind java, who is behind Python? Java
has a very little library advantage IMHO. Python is growing everyday,
as Tim Bray says in his blog here:
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/05/08/FutureLanguage

 

[John Roth]

Hi,

I come across the Parrot project. Seems like it is a better
compromising alternative for .NET and Java. That is, we can develop
applications in Python (for productivity) and still can interact with
components written in other languages, as they were compiled to the
parrot byte code.

But my concern is, how will Python interoperate with Parrot. Since,
Python has strong interospection, won't it be difficult to generate
parrot code from python source file.

I believe there were some people working on a Python
port to Parrot a while ago, but they lost interest when
the then current Parrot implementation was insufficient
to handle what they wanted to do.

It's all a volunteer effort; it'll get done if enough
people want to get together to get it done.

John Roth

 

[Roger Binns]

Why is Java so popular than Python.

Java is a great solution for server side stuff. It has the same respect
as C++ gets (ie people and PHB's do consider it a "real" language/environment).
The class libraries are *way* more advanced than the Python ones. For example
compare Python's imaplib with javamail. (Hint: Python pretty much just gives
you raw protocol back and you have to figure out what is going on).

Other libraries such a JNDI, Activation, JMF etc don't even exist in
Python. Have a look at this page:

http://java.sun.com/reference/api/index.html

And this one:

http://java.sun.com/products/

In many cases there are similar libraries for Python, or more often
multiple incomplete (incomplete by comparison to Java) implementations
out there.

Now sometimes you don't need such complete libraries, and Python lets
you get the problem solved quicker. Other times you have to augment
someone else's library component, which would have been time better
spent on your own code.

Roger

 

[Paul Prescod]

...

I believe there were some people working on a Python
port to Parrot a while ago, but they lost interest when
the then current Parrot implementation was insufficient
to handle what they wanted to do.

It's all a volunteer effort; it'll get done if enough
people want to get together to get it done.

The developers of Parrot are implementing Python on Parrot themselves..

http://www.hole.fi/jajvirta/weblog/20040108T2001.html

As of a month ago:

"Just in case anyone's keeping track, here are a few things that are
working:
• Bytecode loading
• Objects
• Method calls
• Operator Overloading

oh, yeah, and all that pesky math stuff, subroutines, and strings.
They work too, though Unicode needs some help. And variables. We can do
variables.

Still need some work on nested namespaces, actual bytecode translation,
and object performance, but..."

 

[Paul Prescod]

...

I believe there were some people working on a Python
port to Parrot a while ago, but they lost interest when
the then current Parrot implementation was insufficient
to handle what they wanted to do.

It's all a volunteer effort; it'll get done if enough
people want to get together to get it done.

The developers of Parrot are implementing Python on Parrot themselves.

http://www.hole.fi/jajvirta/weblog/20040108T2001.html

As of a month ago:

"Just in case anyone's keeping track, here are a few things that are
working:
• Bytecode loading
• Objects
• Method calls
• Operator Overloading

oh, yeah, and all that pesky math stuff, subroutines, and strings.
They work too, though Unicode needs some help. And variables. We can do
variables.

Still need some work on nested namespaces, actual bytecode translation,
and object performance, but..."