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Chapter 26. Extending and Embedding Jython

Jython implements the Python language on a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Jython's built-in objects, such as numbers, sequences, dictionaries, and files, are coded in Java. To extend Classic Python with C, you code C modules using the Python C API (as covered in "Extending Python with Python's C API" on page 614). To extend Jython with Java, you do not have to code Java modules in special ways: every Java package on the Java CLASSPATH (or on Jython's sys.path) is automatically available to your Jython scripts and Jython interactive sessions for use with the import statement covered in "The import Statement" on page 140. This automatic availability applies to Java's standard libraries, third-party Java libraries you have installed, and Java classes you have coded yourself. You can extend Java with C using the Java Native Interface (JNI), and such extensions will be available to Jython code, just as if they were coded in pure Java rather than in JNI-compliant C.

For details on interoperation between Java and Jython, I recommend Jython Essentials, by Samuele Pedroni and Noel Rappin (O'Reilly). In this chapter, I offer a brief overview of the simplest interoperation scenarios, just enough for a large number of practical needs. In most cases, importing, using, extending, and implementing Java classes and interfaces in Jython just works. In some cases, however, you need to be aware of issues related to accessibility, type conversions, and overloading, as covered in this chapter. Embedding the Jython interpreter in Java-coded applications is similar to embedding the Python interpreter in C-coded applications (as covered in "Embedding Python" on page 647), but the Jython task is easier. Jython offers yet another possibility for interoperation with Java, using the jythonc compiler to turn your Python sources into classic, static JVM bytecode .class and .jar files. You can then use these bytecode files in Java applications and frameworks, exactly as if their source code had been in Java rather than in Python.

In this book, I do not cover the very similar task of extending and embedding IronPython with C# or other languages running on the CLR (Microsoft .NET, or the Mono open source implementation of CLR). However, most issues you will meet during this task are very similar to those covered in this chapter, considering the similarities between C# and Java, and the fact that the same programmer, Jim Hugunin, was responsible for initiating both Jython and IronPython. See http://ironpython.com for all details about IronPython, including ones related to extending and embedding tasks. At the time of this writing, the site http://ironpython.com was not being actively maintained, and the most up-to-date site about IronPython was instead http://workspaces.gotdotnet.com/ironpython. However, the IronPython team plans to revive http://ironpython.com, making it once more the reference site for IronPython, as soon as the team has released IronPython 1.0, which should be out by the time you read this book.


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