In spring 2010, I spoke on "Python for .NET developers" at a monthly meeting of the HDLUG. The subject excites me enough that I put up this page afterward to collect related material.

I mentioned the meeting in Smart Development postings, including:

• "Python for .NET development"
• "IronPython's niche"
• "'Embeddability' is IronPython's great feature"
• "Python 3 and IronPython"
• ...

Among the recommendations I made during the meeting were:

• the IronPython home page;
• Foord and Muirhead's IronPython in Action;
• the official Python Web site;
• my own interview with the authors of the first three books that covered Python 3.0

My own presentation had far more enthusiasm than polish; to see IronPython at its best, look at Michael Foord's

• "Dynamic Languages, IronPython, and Silverlight" and
• "IronPython, Silverlight, and Everything". This talk included detail on Resolver, which might be the largest IronPython project extant.

• Scripting tasks
• Powerful REPL for interactive exploration of .NET assemblies and classes with live objects
• Easy to embed in .NET applications (easy to interact with C# / VB.NET) for providing user scripting

Python originated from an academic project which targeted ease-of-acquisition; to illustrate the euphoria its concision and cleanliness inspires in many newcomers, I referred to this XKCD cartoon. My son, who programs (nearly?) exclusively in Java, framed this as a gift for me--certainly one of the more memorable I've received. The audience chuckled.

[Talk about IronPython-in-a-browser, Eagle, xkcd, the wiki page, ...]