[IronPython] DLR Languages?

[Curt Hagenlocher]

On Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 8:36 AM, Douglas S. Blank <dblank at brynmawr.edu> wrote:
>
> Thanks for the feedback... this is very useful. Can you elaborate on what
> you mean regarding "same level of support for the DLR as C#"? Does that mean
> that VB won't be a dynamic language, but can use the DLR (eg, to host other
> languages)?

When talking specifics, it's important to identify exactly what's
meant by "dynamic language".  VB.NET has always been a dynamic
language -- at least as a consumer.  It uses static resolution when
possible and tries to use dynamic resolution if necessary.  But the
only kinds of dynamic resolution it supported in the past were
reflection (against .NET types) and IDispatch (against COM objects).
DLR integration means that it will also use the DLR IDynamicObject
mechanism for dynamic method resolution.  This will allow
interoperability with objects created by DLR-based language
implementations.

I don't think that VB.NET allows you to dynamically modify types by
adding or replacing members -- whether they're data or code.  But I've
hardly ever used the language.

> Also, it seems that a language that looked similar to C# or Java (or VB for
> that matter) could be implemented fairly straightforwardly using the DLR
> tools. Does anyone know of a project like that (that doesn't need to
> implement all of Java/C#/VB but just the main syntax/semantics)? Any big
> hang-ups in implementing such a (made-up) language?

I expect that we'll be seeing more and more examples of DLR-based
languages over the next year.

--
Curt Hagenlocher
curt at hagenlocher.org