Jython

Overview

Jython programs can import and use any Java class. Except for some standard modules, Jython programs use Java classes instead of Python modules. Jython includes almost all of the modules in the standard Python programming language distribution, lacking only some of the modules implemented originally in C. For example, a user interface in Jython could be written with Swing, AWT or SWT. Jython compiles Python source code to Java bytecode (an intermediate language) either on demand or statically.

History

Jython was initially created in late 1997 to replace C with Java for performance-intensive code accessed by Python programs, moving to SourceForge in October 2000. The Python Software Foundation awarded a grant in January 2005. Jython 2.5 was released in June 2009.{{cite web |access-date=July 2, 2009

Status and roadmap

The most recent release is Jython 2.7.4. It was released on August 18, 2024 and is compatible with Python 2.7.

Python 3 compatible changes are planned in Jython 3 Roadmap.

Although Jython implements the Python language specification, it has some differences and incompatibilities with CPython, which is the reference implementation of Python.{{cite web | access-date=July 5, 2009}}{{cite web | access-date=July 5, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007235503/https://jython.sourceforge.net/archive/21/docs/differences.html | archive-date=2023-10-07}}

License terms

From version 2.2 on, Jython (including the standard library) is released under the Python Software Foundation License (v2). Older versions are covered by the Jython 2.0, 2.1 license and the JPython 1.1.x Software License.{{cite web | access-date=February 9, 2008 | archive-date=October 9, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009152125/http://www.jython.org/Project/license.html | url-status=dead

The command-line interpreter is available under the Apache Software License.

Usage

• JBoss Application Server's command line interface scripting using Jython
• Oracle Weblogic Server Scripting Tool uses Jython
• IBM Rational development tools allow Jython scripting
• IBM WebSphere Application Server tool scripting with wsadmin allows using Jython and Jacl
• ZK, a Java Ajax framework that allows glue logic written in Jython
• Ignition, a software development platform focused on HMI and SCADA
• Ghidra, a reverse engineering tool developed by the NSA allows plugins to be written in Java or Jython
• openHAB, home automation software

References

References

1. "News".
2. "Jython 3 Roadmap".
3. "Introducing Ignition - Ignition User Manual 7.9 - Ignition Documentation".