Jython for Java Programmers - Softcover

Bill, Robert

9780735711112: Jython for Java Programmers

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0735711119 ISBN 13: 9780735711112

Publisher: Sams Publishing, 2001

This book will help Java developers to increase application development and deployment, thus optimizing their overall efficiency.

A brief introduction is provided that shows the differences between Java and Jython, important to include so that the reader will have a better understanding of why their union is beneficial.

The remainder of the book teaches, through examples, how to use Jython. Intended for an experienced Java developer, this book assumes you understand the fundamentals to programming (i.e. loop statements, if.then, etc.). So, page space is focused on utilizing Jython with Java by covering the following: extending Python with java classes, modules, compiling, interpreters, design integration, etc.

www.newriders.com contains all code and applications developed in the book.

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Review:

Robert Bill's Jython for Java Programmers from New Riders is an essential introduction to the complexities of the merger between two popular object-oriented languages, Python and Java. It is directed toward Java programmers who want to incorporate Python rather than vice versa, but the utter symmetry of merging two object-oriented languages creates an Escheresque problem in perspective. It is like two snakes gobbling each other up.

Let's sort this out historically. When Sun Microsystems' virtual machine (VM) paradigm emerged in the mid-1990s, the high-level programming language Java became the idiom for the new "soft" computer. Java's object-oriented architecture allowed it to scope from the lowest-level OS tasks (reads, writes to disk and screen), but much of the mid- and high-level tools were missing--e.g., common GUI features, text parsing, list sorting. The missing functionality is implemented gradually with nuts-and-bolts Java functions and by porting libraries to Java (GL4Java).

The cascade of "100 percent pure Java" ports has finally led to the gobbling up of the elegant Python scripting language, which is also object-oriented. But that is only half of the story. As Java devours Python, Python also devours Java. In one manifestation, Jython is Python written in Java rather than C. It has its own interpreter "jython" and compiler "jythonc," both of which can draw on all of Java's classes. Conversely, jythonc will create a Java class which can be imported by the Java interpreter "java" and compiler "javac." Java programmers will have the luxury of importing and using succinct Jython classes rather than writing the lines of verbose native Java code.

The bewildering complexities are elucidated by Bill in Jython for Java Programmers, which presents Jython both as a standalone, Java-equipped language and as the class implementation within Java. Its three parts are dedicated to Jython's basics (very similar to a Python tutorial), Jython's internals, and Jython's incorporation into GUI, database, and Web applications. The book follows in the New Riders tradition of exhaustive, implementation-centered publishing. Jython is not a Java foundation class, but Bill's book is a cornerstone in its own right. We also recommend Jython.org to help sort out Jython's big picture. --Peter Leopold

About the Author:

Robert W. Bill currently dedicates his time to software design and development in Python, Jython, and Java as an independent contractor. His experiences include a four-year tenure with the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium, The Learning Company, and Mattel. Robert has studied at Baylor University, followed by various courses in music and sciences at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

These reviewers contributed their considerable hands-on expertise to the entire development process for Jython for Java Programmers. As the book was being written, these dedicated professionals reviewed all the material for technical content, organization, and flow. Their feedback was critical to ensuring that Jython for Java Programmers fits our reader's need for the highest quality technical information.

As member of the research staff at the California Institute of Technology, Dr. Robert Brunner focuses on Knowledge Discovery and Data-Mining in very large, heavily distributed databases. He also has been a Java and XML instructor at the Center for Advanced Computing Technology operated by the California State Polytechnic University at Pomona for the last two years. Recently, he has written a series for Java Developers Journal, reviewed numerous proposals for a variety of publishing houses, and has edited texts covering Linux, C++, Java, and XML. He is currently completing Enterprise Java Database Programming to be published by Addison Wesley, Inc.

John Ha is a support engineer and technical writer at NeTraverse, a software development firm in Morrisville, North Carolina. John is responsible for printed and online documentation for the firm's flagship product, Win4Lin. Win4Lin allows Microsoft Windows to be installed on a host Linux system. John also investigates distributed filesystem and remote display technologies for NeTraverse's server product currently under development. John earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut.

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