(semi-troll): Is Jython development dead?

[Steve Holden]

Ray wrote:
> Sloan.Kohler at gmail.com wrote:
> 
>>Is Jython development dead or has it just seemed that way for over a
>>year?. The jython.org website has a recent new appearance (but no new
>>content) and there is some message traffic on the developer site at
>>Sourceforge.  However nothing has been released for over a year (i.e.
>>no support for Python 2.3, 2.4 or 2.5).  Is seems that IronPython may
>>have a better future than Jython.
>>
>>I know this is a bit of a troll but I'm concerned about choosing Jython
>>as the basis for a cross platform test scipt execution environment.
> 
> 
>>Does anyone know if a Jython update is imminent?
> 
> 
> There was a time when Jython walked like the dead and quacked like the
> dead but if you dared calling it dead or asking whether it was really
> dead you'd be admonished that it was open source and you should've just
> gone to the repository and hack some Jython code. (Or the ever popular
> response: that Jython 2.1 works <insert some nice-sounding adjective
> here, e.g.: beautifully, perfectly, etc.>, so why bother asking about
> 2.2 and beyond?).
> 
> Also, thankfully, it's picking up again, thanks to Frank Wierzbicki,
> et. al.--just check out the jython-dev mailing list, seems that new
> bloods are coming in. AFAIK they're trying to get a release for 2.2
> ASAP, then from there go to other versions--I think there was even a
> talk about jumping versions (e.g.: probably skipping 2.3 or something)
> somewhere in the list... I'm not sure how it was concluded though.
> Personally after 2.2 is out I think they might as well jump to 2.5
> straightaway.
> 
> So, what is your main concern here that 2.1 doesn't address? Because if
> your concern is that you're using a dead thing as your environment,
> it's rising from the dead. But if your concern is that you want to use
> features in Python 2.4 in Jython, might as well look for other
> solutions--it'll be some time before a version that supports that comes
> out.
> 
As a PSF director I might add that the Foundation has certainly tried to 
encourage onward development of Jython, and would like to continue doing 
so: it's healthy to have an ecosystem of different implementations, and 
Jython represents great visibility for Python in the Java world.

regards
  Steve
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