What is IronPython?

IronPython is a new implementation of the Python language targeting the Common Language Runtime (CLR). It compiles python programs into bytecode (IL) that will run on either Microsoft's .NET or the Open Source Mono platform. IronPython includes an interactive interpreter and transparent on-the-fly compilation of source files just like standard Python. In addition, IronPython supports static compilation of Python code to produce static executables (.exe's) that can be run directly or static libraries (.dll's) that can be called from other CLR languages.

The CLR is designed to be a target platform for multiple programming languages and to provide a common type system that can enable these languages to seamlessly interoperate with each other. IronPython adds Python to this mix of languages allowing Python code to easily use and be used from the wide variety of other languages that support the CLR.

This paper describes IronPython-0.2, a research prototype implementing the full semantics of the Python language. Before IronPython can be used as a real development platform it still needs considerable testing, packaging and library development. More information on IronPython can be found at http://ironpython.com.