IronPython has a new lease of life with plans to release updated versions during the summer and the next version by October, 2016. 

IronPython is an implementation of the Python language that targets the .Net Framework. It was supported by Microsoft until 2010, after which it has been supported as Open Source by the IronPython team.

IronPython is intended to give Python programmers a way to make use of existing .NET applications and objects as it lets you import .NET objects and work with them as though they were native Python objects.

Progress on the updated version(s) of IronPython has been slow because the lead developer, Jeff Hardy, had been too busy to push the project forward. He made an announcement to the Ironpython mailing list at the beginning of July explaining that he was the bottleneck, and saying:

"For many reasons I just don't have the time right now to give IronPython the attention it deserves, so I'm handing control of the project to Alex Earl and Benedikt Eggers. With new leadership that has the time to properly run the project, it should be able to make a lot more progress."

The new leaders lost no time in getting a discussion going on Gitter where they discussed the schedule for two forthcoming updates; IronPython 2.7.6, and IronPython 3, which will be Python 3 compatible. 

The meeting discussed the areas needing work for the project to move on, such as the outstanding IronPython issues on CodePlex, and how to implement support for Python libraries that use C extensions.

In the discussion, Alex Earl said that:

"For release schedule, I would like to target the end of next week for the 2.7.6 beta, a week of testing before the RC, another week of testing and then the final. So, the final 2.7.6 would be Aug 5."

For IronPython 3, the current plan is that the first alpha should be available in September or October, with a final release potentially made by the end of the year. This overcomes a future problem for IronPython in that the current version doesn't support Python 3, so support needs to be added before Python 2 support is ended in 2020.

More Information

IronPython Site

IronPython On Codeplex

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