Why I chose IronPython over IronRuby in the end.
Initially when I made the decision that I would benefit from learning a new language that adhered to a different paradigm (dynamically typed), I selected IronRuby over IronPython simply because I had seen it first and perhaps got caught up a little in the industry hype and good PR going on.
After having spent a less than insignificant amount of time invested in IronRuby I decided to bite the bullet and invest the effort into IronPython instead and the reasons were entirely pragmatic. Microsoft seem to be putting more effort into IronPython, has already found it’s way into other stacks, such as Oslo’s Intellipad (which I plan to leverage) and it’s significantly more mature than IronRuby.
I am constantly finding uses for IronPython in my work and the list of problems that it’s going to help solve is growing quickly. As a side note, if you are looking to use IronPython and are ready to let the experience pass you by because of lack of IDE support then check out using NetBeans (for Python) and instead using IronPython. As previously detailed by Steven and David, you can use the NetBeans Tools menu and make the selection ‘Python Platforms’, then you can configure a new default platform setting and redirect the IDE to use IronPython (see above screenshot). I haven’t used this configuration for long but for now it seems to work nicely.
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i did a talk on IronRuby in london last week and alot of people are trying to use it, love the language etc but are getting tired of waiting for it to stabilise. ultimately for both to take off in the .net world MS need to put there money where they’re mouth is and get support in VS like they have with F# etc.
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I understand their anxiety. And, for me another reason why IronPython seemed to be the safer bet since from the outside it looks as though they (MS) have put more “money” and “mouth” behind IP to date.
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