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New Components and Contributors for IronPython and IronRuby

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The CLR has always been a great environment for dynamic languages and over the last several years we have built out additional dynamic language support for the .NET Framework through efforts like the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) and language implementations on top of the DLR. The DLR shipped earlier this year as a built-in component of .NET Framework 4, and we now have several great language implementations built on top of it.

IronPython and IronRuby are two dynamic language implementations that we have incubated internally the last few years. We have released several versions of both language environments (IronPython releases and IronRuby releases), and all of the source code has been released under open source licenses (recently moved to Apache License V2.0).

Today we are announcing new leadership for the Iron projects and a development model that will enable the broader community to contribute to their development:

  • The community can now make source contributions to any component of IronPython and IronRuby.
  • For both IronPython and IronRuby, we’ve made changes to the CodePlex projects to allow community members to make contributions without Microsoft's involvement or sponsorship by a Microsoft employee.
  • We’ve already released the IronPython Tools for Visual Studio that we developed under Apache 2.0. We’ve received great early feedback on the IronPython language service for Visual Studio. Today we are releasing the prototype code for IronRuby Tools for Visual Studio, and we expect similar feedback for IronRuby tools as well. Releasing these components under the Apache 2.0 license allows for community members to use the functionality and also contribute to the IronPython and IronRuby language services.
  • We have done a lot of ground work for the next version of IronPython v2.7 and IronRuby v1.9.
  • We have fixed a lot of infrastructure so that the community should be able to regression test all language updates using our tests.
  • We have enabled a full release work flow to produce builds and releases straight from the CodePlex projects. Previously, these could only easily be done from our own source depots.

As part of these changes I’m happy to announce new project leaders external to Microsoft who will take over the projects and provide leadership going forward. The IronPython project will have Miguel de Icaza, Michael Foord, Jeff Hardy, and Jimmy Schementi as Coordinators. Miguel de Icaza and Jimmy Schementi will be the Coordinators of IronRuby. All of these guys have worked with or on the Iron projects since their inception and I have nothing but trust and respect for the new stewards of these community projects.

Overall, I hope the effect of the changes is to dramatically increase the opportunity for community members to contribute their own code to IronPython and IronRuby, and to actively participate in these projects.

The IronPython and IronRuby projects began as an effort to improve support for dynamic languages in the .NET Framework and to diversify our portfolio of programming languages. These language projects have helped thousands of people since they began, and they have added value to the .NET Framework. They helped create the Dynamic Language Runtime in the .NET Framework 4, on which we have also built C#'s new 'dynamic' keyword and improved Visual Basic's late-binding support. We’ll continue to invest in making the .NET Framework a great runtime environment for dynamic languages going forward.

Working with the community has always been an essential part of developing IronPython and IronRuby, and the feedback and the community review of the source code and specifications has been invaluable. We are looking forward to this new level of involvement from the IronPython and IronRuby communities, and think it will help advance the languages even further.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    October 21, 2010
    I wanted to take a moment to thank Jason for all the support that he’s given to IronPython through the years.  He’s the one who brought me and the project into Microsoft six years ago and helped me realize just how many talented people there were working on .NET.  While this news is somewhat sad, I think that the four people Jason has found to step up as project coordinators are really strong and can do a great job of leading this project forward.  I have the highest hopes for this project in these new hands and look forward to watching their future successes. In the interest of full disclosure, I should also take this time to note that as IronPython is moving out from Microsoft into the world beyond, this is semi-coincidentally the time that I’m also leaving Microsoft for the world beyond.  If you’re interested, you can read more about my reflections and future plans here – hugunin.net/microsoft_farewell.html.

  • Anonymous
    October 21, 2010
    Move it away from CodePlex to github or gitorious.

  • Anonymous
    October 21, 2010
    @Andrius: The IronRuby repo is already on github. [[github.com/.../ironruby]]

  • Anonymous
    October 21, 2010
    Personally, I prefer Python, and having Codeplex still using TFS makes it a real pain to contribute.   Github makes it dead easy, but if IronPython is going to stay on Codeplex, the repro needs to be Mercurial. What are the plans for IronPython?

  • Anonymous
    October 21, 2010
    @Nathan: Read Jeff Hardy's blog post.  They will likely switch over at some point but when is uncertain as people want to push toward 2.7 quickly.  Of course nothing stops you from creating a github mirror. http://jdhardy.blogspot.com

  • Anonymous
    October 21, 2010
    As an early IronRuby contributor... all I can say is. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. Best. Decision. EVER.

  • Anonymous
    October 21, 2010
    Jim - I've enjoyed working with you these last six years, best of luck on your new projects!

  • Anonymous
    October 21, 2010
    Just Excellent. Microsoft has such a great opportunity to lead in this space. And it's good to see Microsoft letting other leaders step up and contribute, too. This is great news for lovers of Python and Ruby everywhere.

  • Anonymous
    October 24, 2010
    Unfortunately, most open source projects fare worse when not under the umbrella of a profitable organization. I would hate this to be the death knell for IronPython - now - as it is just garnering the tools integration (Visual Studio) that it requires to really become a staple language with .NET developers.

  • Anonymous
    October 25, 2010
    What is the future of Silverlight?  Will it be the next .NET technology to be put out to pasture?  HTML5 is the clear way to go for building portable Web applications which run everywhere especially when IE9 is released.

  • Anonymous
    November 01, 2010
    Can you please comment on future of DLR, like new version??

  • Anonymous
    November 01, 2010
    The comment has been removed