Difference between Python and IronPython

Using .Net assemblies from Python code

With IronPython you can access any .net assembly which is compiled using the same or a lower version than the IronPython core.

Example: Importing a a .net assembly and class

from System import Math

Example: Using an imported class:

from System import Math
print Math.Abs(-123)

You can also load additional assemblies by using the builtin clr module.

import clr
clr.AddReference('Sample') # Sample.dll inside of the working directory.

Than just use it as any other .net or python library.

IronPython is written in pure c#

IronPython is completly written using managed .net (c#) code. So all builtin python methods and libraries (such as next(), int(), etc.) are writtin in .net.

This example shows the implementation of len() for a list of different types (only a few):

....

public static int len([NotNull]List/*!*/ list) {
    return list.__len__();
}

public static int len([NotNull]PythonTuple/*!*/ tuple) {
    return tuple.__len__();
}

public static int len([NotNull]PythonDictionary/*!*/ dict) {
    return dict.__len__();
}

…

If we would need some other type to count the length off, just add them in Builtin.cs and it will be available automatically.

Using generics within IronPython

IronPython enables to use generic classes and methods from the .net framework. Generics can be used with the same syntax as accessing an index. For passing more than one type-parameter, they must be separated with a comma:

l = Dictionary[int, str]()

That way we create a dictionary where keys only accepts integers and the values must be a string.

A sample usage could look like this

from System.Collections.Generic import List
lst = List[str]()
lst.Add('Hello')
lst.Add('World')
for l in lst:
    print

Output

Hello

World

When adding new items, type checking will also be performed:

lst = List[str]()
lst.Add(123)

Traceback (most recent call last):

File “<stdin>”, line 1, in

TypeError: expected str, got int