I suppose this conversation should make a distinction, which may make entire 
differences disappear.
 
- the engine the implements the dynamic nature of the language
- the compiler, which takes something written in the language and packages it 
into a language-neutral form
- a shell which embeds the engine for on-the-fly usage
 
I suppose I don't care strongly about the shell (IronPythonConsole), though I'd 
prefer to see it use .config files.  I came to .NET after a great time in 
Python, and think improvements can be made to Python and its deployment to make 
life better.
 
I care more about the compiler, which should probably conform to the mechanisms 
that csc, vbc, etc use.  This would make them easier to target in VS2005, for 
example, in the way that one can hack in .NET 1.1 targetting.
 
The engine I think should be invisible to outsiders.  It's a helper for classes 
implemented using Python -- not a feature of either the language or the 
libraries created with it.  Being invisible means, I think, that it not use 
environment variables or the like.  It should have the exact same deployment 
story as a typical C# or VB.NET assembly.
 
This distinction may be where the apparent disagreement stems from, and 
probably conforms relatively well to part of Jim's third point.
 
(As a side point, I note that Java apparently did away with environment 
variable access some time back.  I note the gnashing of teeth, but it hasn't 
brought the Java world crashing around everything.)

________________________________

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Keith J. Farmer
Sent: Wed 5/4/2005 3:19 PM


I'm not all that worried about short-term -- C# is a very lovely language, and 
I'm holding out hopes to see C-omega either released or folded into C#.  I've 
waited a couple years for generics, and I'll wait a couple years for sql, xml, 
and object streams as first-class constructs.  I'm perfectly happy enough to 
wait for what are other more interesting milestones.
 
But in the end, of course, is my compelling story:
 
Python as a first-class language in .NET, suitable for mixed-language 
development in a variety of projects including ASP.NET.
 

<<winmail.dat>>

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