Silverlight - Dynamic Languages
Microsoft has announced that Silverlight applications can be built using dynamic languages such as IronPython, IronRuby and Managed JScript. It's something really interesting because it provides an opportunity for the developers of any of these languages to build exciting Silverlight Applications.
Dynamic languages perform tasks at execution time without recompiling the source code. One of the reasons they are called "Dynamic" is that the typing in these languages is dynamic and in the source code there will not be any explicitly defined types. Types are created dynamically at execution time. With Silverlight 2.0, we have a DLR (Dynamic Language Runtime) which will provide a compiler to support each of these languages. It is executed above the CLR. It generates the code at execution time and makes the dynamic typing.
So what does this mean for a developer? Well! If we author the source code and run the Silverlight application and while the application is running, if we change the source code and refresh the browser, the changes are reflected in the application. Sounds very interesting, isn't it? Moreover, the Dynamic language initiative from Microsoft is not limited to Silverlight. The future releases of ASP .NET are likely to support these dynamic languages (IronPython in particular) for developing web applications. Interested developers can try this out using the ASP .NET Futures package (CTP).
So what does this mean for a developer? Well! If we author the source code and run the Silverlight application and while the application is running, if we change the source code and refresh the browser, the changes are reflected in the application. Sounds very interesting, isn't it? Moreover, the Dynamic language initiative from Microsoft is not limited to Silverlight. The future releases of ASP .NET are likely to support these dynamic languages (IronPython in particular) for developing web applications. Interested developers can try this out using the ASP .NET Futures package (CTP).
