IronPython CTP for ASP.NET - Dive Into Dynamic Languages for .NET
by David Hayden ( Microsoft MVP C# ), Filed: ASP.NET 2.0
I was playing with the IronPython CTP for ASP.NET for quite some time the other night to keep myself abreast of the latest happenings with the CLR and dynamic languages. I mentioned that IronPython was released awhile ago:
Although I am a die hard C# fanatic, I absolutely love working with dynamic languages like Python and Ruby. When you play with these other languages, you can appreciate the similarity and differences in languages.
To make my IronPython experience more real-world ( at least for me ), there is now an IronPython CTP for ASP.NET that you can download and use to create ASP.NET websites.
“Combining the simplicity of Python with the power of ASP.NET, this Community Technology Preview (CTP) release of IronPython for ASP.NET allows developers to create rich web applications using a new implementation of the popular Python programming language.”
Let me just say that we are not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Although you can create ASP.NET websites using IronPython, there is very little support for it in the Visual Studio IDE right now. Intellisense is basically non-existent. Class view is useless. You can't navigate to declarations, etc. Yeah, I felt somewhat powerless, but it reminded me of when I built websites in NotePad before we had HTML editors, etc. A tedious, but great way to learn and be close to the metal.
Now, for those who want to play with experimental hives, there are some examples of Visual Studio Integration with IronPython in the Visual Studio 2005 SDK ( version 3.0 ). I didn't go for it as I don't really need anymore experimental stuff on my PC. If interested, however, you can learn more here. I think I will wait for a bit until we get another IronPython ASP.NET CTP, etc.
Anyway, I did have a blast creating some web pages using ASP.NET and IronPython as well as going through the IronPython Personal Website Starter Kit that comes with the download. I will mention more about it later, but I highly recommend reading this whitepaper, entitled The New Dynamic Language Extensibility Model for ASP.NET, and going through the examples mentioned here to get used to the IronPython way in ASP.NET:
- Creating a Basic Web Page with IronPython
- Using Shared Code with IronPython for ASP.NET
- Databinding with IronPython for ASP.NET
- Debugging IronPython for ASP.NET
- Creating a User Control with IronPython
And, of course, you can download the IronPython ASP.NET CTP here.
Good stuff.
.NET Developer News Feed: David Hayden ( Microsoft MVP C# )
Filed: ASP.NET 2.0