About this Book
IronPython is a radical project for Microsoft. It is the first project to be released under their Ms-PL (Microsoft Public License) open source license. It is also a radically different language from the ones that Microsoft has traditionally promoted for the .NET framework. IronPython is an implementation of the popular programming language Python for .NET. Python is an open source, object-oriented, dynamically typed language in use by organizations like Google, NASA and Pixar. Python is a multi-paradigm language, and brings new possibilities to .NET programmers: not just the added flexibility of dynamic typing, but programming styles such as functional programming and metaprogramming. For Python programmers the powerful runtime, with its JIT compiler and huge range of .NET libraries, also presents new opportunities.
The goal of IronPython in Action is not just to teach the mechanics of using IronPython, but to demonstrate the power and effectiveness of object-oriented programming in the Python language. To this end we cover best practices in API design, testing, and the use of design patterns in structured application development. In part this is to dispel the myth that dynamic languages are merely scripting languages; but mostly it is to help you make the best of the language and the platform on which it runs.