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IronPython in Action
In 2005, Microsoft quietly announced an initiative to bring dynamic languages to the .NET platform. The starting point for this project was a .NET implementation of Python, dubbed IronPython. After a couple years of incubation, IronPython is ready for real-world use. It blends the simplicity, elegance, and dynamism of Python with the power of the .NET framework. IronPython in Action offers a comprehensive, hands-on introduction to Microsoft's exciting new approach for programming the .NET framework. It approaches IronPython as a first class .NET language, fully integrated with the .NET environment, Visual Studio, and even the open-source Mono implementation. You'll learn how IronPython can be embedded as a ready-made scripting language into C# and VB.NET programs, used for writing full applications or for web development with ASP. Even better, you'll see how IronPython works in Silverlight for client-side web programming. IronPython opens up exciting new possibilities. Because it's a dynamic language, it permits programming paradigms not easily available in VB and C#. In this book, authors Michael Foord and Christian Muirhead explore the world of functional programming, live introspection, dynamic typing and duck typing , metaprogramming, and more. IronPython in Action explores these topics with examples, making use of the Python interactive console to explore the .NET framework with live objects. The expert authors provide a complete introduction for programmers to both the Python language and the power of the .NET framework. The book also shows how to extend IronPython with C#, extending C# and VB.NET applications with Python, using IronPython with .NET 3.0 and Powershell, IronPython as a Windows scripting tool, and much more. Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book.
- GenresProgramming
464 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2008
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25 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 23, 2009
The book claims it's not intended for novice programmers, and this should be kept in mind. It's thankfully missing the "what does an if statement do" chapters present in many books.
The book does two jobs: teaching .NET to a Python user and teaching Python to .NET users. I'm a .NET veteran, so I can only speak for how it teaches Python to a .NET user. I am disappointed with the coverage in this respect. The book does an excellent job explaining the syntax of Python, and scratches the surface of some advanced features like metaprogramming. However, there is almost no discussion of Python idioms or the built-in Python libraries. One could say this is fair since the .NET sections tend to focus on broad features and direct you to the documentation for detailed information, but .NET is a framework for building applications and Python is a language. I'd argue it's probably more important to learn how to write applications with Python *then* learn how to incorporate .NET into the programs.
I'd say the book does well at covering both topics, but splitting the focus of the book means that "well" is at best mediocre. I feel like there's some nice tricks displayed in the .NET-facing portions. Discussion of integration with Powershell and .NET applications was appropriate and sufficiently detailed. However, I didn't expect that I'd want another Python book after reading this text, and that's the state I'm in.
The book does two jobs: teaching .NET to a Python user and teaching Python to .NET users. I'm a .NET veteran, so I can only speak for how it teaches Python to a .NET user. I am disappointed with the coverage in this respect. The book does an excellent job explaining the syntax of Python, and scratches the surface of some advanced features like metaprogramming. However, there is almost no discussion of Python idioms or the built-in Python libraries. One could say this is fair since the .NET sections tend to focus on broad features and direct you to the documentation for detailed information, but .NET is a framework for building applications and Python is a language. I'd argue it's probably more important to learn how to write applications with Python *then* learn how to incorporate .NET into the programs.
I'd say the book does well at covering both topics, but splitting the focus of the book means that "well" is at best mediocre. I feel like there's some nice tricks displayed in the .NET-facing portions. Discussion of integration with Powershell and .NET applications was appropriate and sufficiently detailed. However, I didn't expect that I'd want another Python book after reading this text, and that's the state I'm in.
Displaying 1 of 1 review