The Definitive Guide to Jython [Paperback]

Josh Juneau (Author), Jim Baker (Author), Leonardo Soto Munoz (Author), Frank Wierzbicki (Author), Viktor Ng (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1430225270 | ISBN-13: 978-1430225270 | Publication Date: December 4, 2009 | Edition: 1

Jython is an open source implementation of the high-level, dynamic, object-oriented scripting language Python seamlessly integrated with the Java platform. It has already surpassed Jruby and is challenging Groovy as the leading open source dynamic Java Web scripting language.

Jython is currently ranging anywhere between 7 & 10 thousand downloads a month on SourceForge.net alone, and continues to get support from Sun, Google, Django and Python companies/communities.

The Definitive Guide to Jython is the official book on Jython, written by Jython team, and the first to publish in a while on now the new Jython 2.5.x.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Josh Juneau has been developing software since the mid 1990’s. PL/SQL development and database programming was the focus of his career in the beginning, but as his skills developed he began to use Java and later shifted to Java as a primary base for his application development. Josh has worked with Java in the form of GUI, Web, and command line programming for several years. During his tenure as a Java developer, he has worked with many frameworks such as JSF, EJB, and JBoss Seam. At the same time, Josh has extended his knowledge of the JVM by learning and developing applications with other JVM languages such as Jython and Groovy. His interest in learning new languages that run on the JVM led to his interest in Jython. Since 2006, Josh has been the editor and publisher for the Jython Monthly newsletter. In late 2008, he began a podcast dedicated to the Jython programming language.

Jim Baker has over 15 years of professional software development experience, focusing on business intelligence, enterprise system management, and high-performance web applications. Jim is a committer on Jython and also leads the Front Range Pythoneers, a merry band of Python enthusiasts in Boulder, Colorado. Jim graduated from Harvard College, A.B., Computer Science magna cum laude and Brown University, Sc.M., Computer Science (and an all-but-dissertation PhD candidate).

Leonardo Soto is part of the Jython development team from the middle
of 2008, after a successfully completed Google Summer of Code Project,
which aimed to run and integrate the Django web framework with Jython. He is also a last-year student of Informatics Engineering on the
Universidad de Santiago de Chile. He has developed several software
systems in the past seven years, most of them being web applications,
most of them based on the JavaEE (formerly J2EE) platform. However, he
has been spoiled by Python since almost the start of his professional
developer career and have missed its power and clarity countless
times, inexorably turning him towards the Jython project.

Frank Wierzbicki is the Jython Project Lead. He is employed by Sun Microsystems where he works on Jython full-time. He has been a Java and a Python developer for over ten years. Frank has a B.S. in Biochemistry from Old Dominion University and an All-But-Dissertation in Neuroscience from Baylor College of Medicine.

Victor Ng has been slinging python code in enterprises for about 10 years now and has worked in the banking, adventure travel and telecommunications industries. He started a small consulting company with his friend in 2006 called Monkeybean Inc named after his daughter's nickname - mostly because she thinks he’s Batman. He lives just outside of Toronto, Ontario in Canada.

Product Details

• Paperback: 700 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (December 4, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430225270
• ISBN-13: 978-1430225270
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #725,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Truly the definitive guide on the subject., March 24, 2010

By 

M. Freeman (Birmingham, AL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Definitive Guide to Jython (Paperback)

The authors describe this book as having the intended audience of a Java developer wishing to use a dynamic language other than Groovy or JRuby. This is a very accurate assessment.

The first section serves as a quick introduction to the Python language, however should not be completely skipped even by seasoned Python developers. As a Python and Java developer, it was good to see comparisons of similar features from both languages. In many cases, the authors took the time to show code examples from both languages, side by side.

The book then leads into practical application of Jython. In addition to sections on how to call Java code from within your Jython scripts, extremely detailed instructions are given for calling Jython code from within Java. Also, the reader is taken through instructions on setting up Jython with their IDE (a must for any Java developer) and using JDBC calls from within your scripts.

Next, the reader is taken on a journey through using Jython with JSP, Django, Pylons, Swing integration, and - very importantly - deployment to Java application servers such as JBoss and Glassfish. Readers are then exposed to testing techniques for Python/Jython,and details on Concurrency in Java and Jython.

The book ends with several Appendixes which should not be missed. Parsing XML with Jython? It's there. Writing Ant task? Yep.

I give the book a 4 out of 5. The only thing that would have made the book better would have been to spend a little less time talking about Python syntax and explaining only the differences between the languages. My thought is that if someone buys this book, they have likely already read an introductory book on Python and will spend much of the first 160 pages reviewing what they already know. This could have been condensed to about 15 pages by showing only the differences between the languages. However, as I mentioned before, the comparisons of features, and the places where the integration points are mentioned, are worth reading that section.

I should warn Python developers looking to learn more about Java. This book is not for you. Many of the topics covered assume the reader has existing knowledge of Java, including application servers and GUI development with Swing.

If you are looking for a book on Jython, this is the only book I would consider buying. I highly recommend it for any developer looking to gain the speed and ease of Python within their projects. So, go out and buy the book. Support the authors for the obvious hard work they put into making such a great book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well rounded coverage of Jython, June 10, 2010

By 

PIETER GREYLING (Santiago, Chile) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Definitive Guide to Jython (Paperback)

I have used Jython on-and-off since it went by the name JPython. There was a period during which I feared, like others, that Jython (and thus Python for the Java platform) was doomed to stagnation and a slow death. Thankfully, this great programming tool has been resurrected in the last year and brought on a par with the current mainstream CPython 2.5.x production version. This has made it possible to bring the use of many powerful pure Python libraries and frameworks to the Java run-time world.

All that was missing was the cherry on the cake, a definitive book on the subject. And this volume provides just that. It gives well-rounded coverage of the multitude of areas where the application of Jython is now possible.

I personally found the section on "Using Jython Within Java Applications" very enlightening for a small project I was working on as well as for its approach on implementing Java Object Factories in general.

The open source version of this book is available at [...]. However, nothing beats keeping the hard-copy handy for convenience or commuter reading.

5.0 out of 5 stars What I needed to know for a Jython project, May 1, 2011

By 

GeoVizer (State College, PA, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Definitive Guide to Jython (Paperback)

I'm a fairly experienced Java programmer with some exposure to Python. I needed to understand all the nuts and bolts of how Jython works for a project I have been assigned to. This book is the best I have seen. It covers everything I need at the right level. The Java -- Jython integration story is particularly well told. Thanks for the book!