Microsoft embraces open-source scripting language
Microsoft has released a beta of its .Net port to Python.
IronPython 1.0 Beta 1, which was released at the end of last week, is "well integrated" with the rest of the .Net programming framework and allows all .Net libraries to be "easily" accessed by Python programmers, according to Microsoft.
Microsoft's support for Python could help the software giant attract Unix developers to the Windows platform, as it is a commonly used scripting language on the Unix platform, according to Salim Fadhley, who develops Python programs for Unix.
"If Microsoft embraces Python, it could be a big draw for Unix hackers--if our favorite language was supported as a first-tier language by a major software vendor, it would be a major draw to Windows. At the moment, most Python developers hack on Mac and Linux," Fadhley said. "IronPython could be a massive landgrab by Microsoft into the domain of traditional Unix scripting."
