<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<!-- THIS PAGE IS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED. DO NOT EDIT. -->
<!-- Wed Feb 2 23:21:56 2011 -->
<!-- USING HT2HTML 2.0 -->
<!-- SEE http://ht2html.sf.net -->
<!-- User-specified headers:
Title: What is Jython?
-->
<head>
<title>What is Jython?</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name="generator" content="HT2HTML/2.0">
<style type="text/css">
body { margin: 0px; }
</style>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"
marginwidth="0" marginheight="0"
link="#0000bb" vlink="#00000"
alink="#ff0000">
<!-- start of page table -->
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<!-- start of banner row -->
<tr>
<!-- start of corner cells -->
<td width="150" valign="middle" bgcolor="#cccccc" class="corner">
<center>
<a href="http://www.jython.org/">
<img border="0" src="./images/jpython-new-small.gif"></a></center> </td>
<td width="15" bgcolor="#cccccc"> </td><!--spacer-->
<!-- end of corner cells -->
<!-- start of banner -->
<td width="90%" bgcolor="#cccccc" class="banner">
<!-- start of site links table -->
<table width="100%" border="0"
cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2"
bgcolor="#ffffff">
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="http://www.jython.org/">Home</a>
</td>
<td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="http://www.python.org/">www.python.org</a>
</td>
</tr><tr>
<td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="http://www.jython.org/download.html">Download</a>
</td>
<td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="./index.html">Documentation</a>
</td>
</tr>
</table><!-- end of site links table -->
</td><!-- end of banner -->
</tr><!-- end of banner row -->
<tr><!-- start of sidebar/body row -->
<!-- start of sidebar cells -->
<td width="150" valign="top" bgcolor="#cccccc" class="sidebar">
<!-- start of sidebar table -->
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3"
bgcolor="#ffffff">
<tr><td bgcolor="#666699"><b><font color="#ffffff">
Documentation
</font></b></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="./index.html">Overview</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="whatis.html">Executive Summary</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="interpreter.html">Invoking Jython</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="registry.html">Jython Registry</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="embedding.html">Embedding</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="compile.html">Compiling Jython from source</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<tr><td bgcolor="#666699"><b><font color="#ffffff">
Working with Java
</font></b></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="usejava.html">The Basics</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="properties.html">JavaBean Properties</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="jarray.html">Java arrays</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="subclassing.html">Subclassing</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="jythonc.html">Building applets, servlets, beans...</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="jreload.html">Reloading java classes</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="zxjdbc.html">zxJDBC</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<tr><td bgcolor="#666699"><b><font color="#ffffff">
Python Docs (exits)
</font></b></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="http://www.python.org/doc/tut/tut.html">Python Tutorial</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="http://www.python.org/doc/lib/lib.html">Library Reference</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<tr><td bgcolor="#666699"><b><font color="#ffffff">
Other
</font></b></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="differences.html">Jython vs. CPython</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="http://www.jython.org/cgi-bin/faqw.py?req=index">Jython FAQ (exit)</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="http://www.geocrawler.com/archives/3/7017/2000/">List Archives</a> (exit)
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="http://www.python.org/workshops/1997-10/proceedings/hugunin.html">JPython paper</a> (exit)
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<tr><td bgcolor="#666699"><b><font color="#ffffff">
Contact
</font></b></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jython-users">Questions on Jython?<br>jython-users</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="http://www.python.org/">
<center>
<img border="0" src="./images/PythonPoweredSmall.gif"></center>
</a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc">
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/">
<center>
<img src="http://sourceforge.net/sflogo.php?group_id=12867" width="88" height="31" border="0" alt="SourceForge Logo"></center>
</a>
</td></tr>
</table><!-- end of sidebar table -->
</td>
<td width="15"> </td><!--spacer-->
<!-- end of sidebar cell -->
<!-- start of body cell -->
<td valign="top" width="90%" class="body"><br>
<h3>What is Jython?</h3>
<P>Jython is an implementation of the high-level, dynamic,
object-oriented language <A HREF="http://www.python.org">Python</A>
seamlessly integrated with the
<A HREF="http://www.javasoft.com">Java</A> platform.
The predecessor to Jython, JPython, is certified as
<A HREF="http://www.javasoft.com/100percent/">100% Pure Java</A>.
Jython is freely available for both commercial and non-commercial
use and is distributed with source code. Jython is complementary
to Java and is especially suited for the following tasks:</P>
<UL>
<LI><B>Embedded scripting</B> - Java programmers can add the
Jython libraries to their system to allow end users
to write simple or complicated scripts that add functionality
to the application.
<LI><B>Interactive experimentation</B> - Jython provides an
interactive interpreter that can be used to interact with Java
packages or with running Java applications. This allows
programmers to experiment and debug any Java system using
Jython.
<LI><B>Rapid application development</B> - Python
programs are typically 2-10X shorter than the equivalent Java
program. This translates directly to increased programmer
productivity. The seamless interaction between Python and Java
allows developers to freely mix the two languages both during
development and in shipping products.
</UL>
<P>There are numerous
<A HREF="http://grunge.cs.tu-berlin.de/~tolk/vmlanguages.html">
alternative languages</A>
implemented for the Java VM. The following features help to separate
Jython from the rest:</P>
<UL>
<LI><B>Dynamic compilation to Java bytecodes</B> - leads to
highest possible performance without sacrificing interactivity.
<LI><B>Ability to extend existing Java classes in Jython</B> -
allows effective use of abstract classes.
<LI><B>Optional static compilation</B> - allows creation of
applets, servlets, beans, ...
<LI><B>Bean Properties</B> - make use of Java packages much easier.
<LI><B><A HREF="http://www.python.org/doc/Summary.html">
Python Language</A></B> - combines remarkable power with
very clear syntax. It also supports a full object-oriented
programming model which makes it a natural fit for Java's OO
design.
</UL>
</td><!-- end of body cell -->
</tr><!-- end of sidebar/body row -->
</table><!-- end of page table -->
</body></html>
