Chapter 15. Using IronPython from Other .NET Languages

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

  • Considering the dynamic and static language relationship

  • Developing an externally accessible IronPython module

  • Using the external module from C#

  • Using the external module from Visual Basic.NET

  • Testing the external module

  • Finding bugs in external modules

One of the essential features of IronPython is that it relies on the .NET Framework as a basis for its functionality and is designed to interact with the .NET Framework. You've seen examples of using the .NET Framework in a number of previous chapters. For example, Chapter 13 demonstrates how to tap the .NET Framework for the functionality needed to manage XML data. This chapter considers the other side of the coin — accessing IronPython from a .NET language such as C# or Visual Basic.NET.

You may have noticed that IronPython is great when it comes to processing lists of information and it excels at working with various sorts of data, including ragged datasets. However, Chapters 8 and 11 demonstrated that IronPython isn't always the easiest language to use for user interface needs. The language currently lacks designer and other visual tool support, which means you have to write all of the interface code by hand. Of course, writing the code by hand isn't a very big deal for an application with just a few dialog boxes, but imagine the complexity of developing an application with 40 or 50 different windows, dialog boxes, and other visual elements. In this case, ...

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