Hello HN,<p>I am considering to use Jython [1] for a large-scale web site together with Django. I have built a prototype and it seems pretty applicable. Also, the recent release (Jython 2.5.2 [2]) seems promising.<p>I am wondering how it will behave in a large-scale deployment and also the future of the project.<p>Is there any major companies you know using Jython?<p>In short, what do you think about Jython?<p>[1] http://www.jython.org/<p>[2] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2300881
Meetup uses it to some extent. I don't know how much, but I'm told by some of the programmers I know. I think it was Andrew who gave a Jython talk at Meetup HQ a few months back.<p>Jython is a great way to leverage the huge the amount of libraries and infrastructure available on the JVM. It also lets you reuse what you might already have, which might allow you to (covertly?) transition languages. I use it regularly.<p>If you're not already entrenched in the Java world, you probably don't need it. I use it because my clients are comfortable deploying WARs, EARs, JARs, SARs, etc. Oracle and IBM sell a full stack, so there's never any scrutiny.<p>Technologically, you might want it. Despite the tendency to ignore them, Java has a lot of superior tech that comes in handy. You'll get real threads, connection pooling, distributed transactions, fantastic async I/O libraries; Jython inherits all of this. If you need this, it's available. You don't have to roll your own. (You will have to learn it, though, and I think that's what <i>really</i> drives NIHS...) Understand that Jython does come with a performance penalty on some tasks, but pays dividends on others. You can also spot tune with pure Java to some extent.<p>So it's really a strategic thing. If you're selling into orgs that have established practices, or if you need really serious throughput, Jython will probably be a good choice. If you're building a web app that you run on your own infrastructure and you've already chosen Python and Django, you're probably better off without the extra layer.
I'm not sure about the development state of Jyhton, but like others have already said, using the JVM opens up an enormous box of Java platform goodies. With Jython you can build your web app front-end with Django and your backend business logic with Java, Scala or something else. It also gives you the ability to create worker thread etc.<p>This is a great online book about using Jython:
<a href="http://www.jython.org/jythonbook/en/1.0" rel="nofollow">http://www.jython.org/jythonbook/en/1.0</a>
You might talk to some of the people at the Diamond Synchrotron facility in the UK. They are using it to allow scripting for control of their instrumentation. In my own use, I do remember there being some annoyances with getting a ^C into a text based client we were working on (from java), but that might have just been me. Also, I would suggest being careful with the possibility of memory leaks when calling java from jython (sorry, can't remember the details now).
> <i>Jython 2.5.2 Has Been Released (March 3, 2011)</i><p>It's being actively developed. I know IBM uses it, at least in WebSphere.<p>About scalabilty I don't know, but it compiles to Java bytecode and the JVM is very mature (with Jython itself being mature as well), I'd wager that it scales well.<p>However, why are you using Jython with Django when you can use CPython? You're adding an additional layer of abstraction that will incur a performance hit.