

Jim Hugunin leaves Microsoft and IronPython - jnoller
http://hugunin.net/microsoft_farewell.html

======
bad_user
Jim hasn't been involved with IronPython for quite some time, although this
does cast a shadow on their commitment to .NET.

But the bigger news is really this one ...

[http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jasonz/archive/2010/10/21/new-
compon...](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jasonz/archive/2010/10/21/new-components-
and-contributors-for-ironpython-and-ironruby.aspx)

IronPython / IronRuby have been axed from Microsoft, contributions on Codeplex
are welcome, with external project leads which include Jimmy Schementi and
Miguel de Icaza.

This may actually be good for the Iron* languages, but I'm a little worried
that the DLR inner-ring (Microsoft.Scripting.Core.dll) will stagnate as it
will not receive contributions from the community.

~~~
thibaut_barrere
Thanks for the link! That is definitely a great news. I also found:
[http://blog.jimmy.schementi.com/2010/10/leadership-of-
ironru...](http://blog.jimmy.schementi.com/2010/10/leadership-of-ironruby-and-
ironpython.html)

On the DLR: what makes you say the DLR will not receive contributions from the
community (real question, as always) ?

~~~
equark
See this post, there are two parts to DLR.

[http://lists.ironpython.com/pipermail/users-
ironpython.com/2...](http://lists.ironpython.com/pipermail/users-
ironpython.com/2010-October/013879.html)

I believe Mono guys should be blogging about this tomorrow, so more on future
will be known then.

I think there's a lot of positives actually. It's unrealistic to think
Microsoft was going to put big money into languages they have little control
over, like python and ruby. They got dynamic into c# and f#. There is no
reason to support python over clojure or any other new dlr language. I just
hope the community is strong enough to make the DLR an even more compelling
platform.

------
sigzero
Wow, gone to Google. I wonder if his involvement with Java now and Python will
get him back involved with his original Python project: Jython ?

~~~
cameldrv
His original Python project was Numeric, then Jython, then IronPython. The guy
is a one-man coding army for Python.

~~~
kingkilr
For those who don't know Numeric is the ancestor of NumPy.

------
rayvega
The program manager for IronRuby left Microsoft just a couple months ago
citing lack of support and commitment for that project:

[http://blog.jimmy.schementi.com/2010/08/start-spreading-
news...](http://blog.jimmy.schementi.com/2010/08/start-spreading-news-future-
of-jimmy.html)

~~~
equark
He has now become the IronRuby lead, although not at Microsoft.

~~~
thibaut_barrere
Link: [http://blog.jimmy.schementi.com/2010/10/leadership-of-
ironru...](http://blog.jimmy.schementi.com/2010/10/leadership-of-ironruby-and-
ironpython.html)

------
equark
It is sad that Hugunin isn't involved with IronPython any more. But it may be
good news for the IronPython and IronRuby community that Microsoft no longer
has the reins. Currently it is impossible to contribute back code, which
destroys any community. Moving to a fully open model seems like a step
forward.

I have two questions though. What is Microsoft's commitment to the DLR and
where does the IE9 Chakra Javascript engine fit into the .NET ecosystem. Will
non-DLR Javascript be Microsoft's dynamic language of choice or will it say
purely in the browser?

~~~
natmaster
I can't say anything definitively, but the IE Javascript team is completely
separate from the .NET team.

~~~
_stephan
I doubt any dynamic language implementation on top of .NET could ever compete
performance-wise with one of the modern JS engines. The CLR doesn't allow for
certain low-level implementation tricks, like tagging pointers, and doesn't
give you full control over the memory layout of your data structures. Also,
all code generation has to go through the .NET JIT and the .NET runtime code
generation APIs, which both aren't really optimized for the use by dynamic
language runtimes.

However, Mono might be a better platform for dynamic languages, because the
Mono team might be open to extending the core with some specialized
infrastructure for dynamic languages...

------
amix
Google may be working on their own Python VM as he would be a great hire for
that job, especially given his involvement with Jython. Let's hope that :)

~~~
jnoller
I sincerely doubt google is working on their own Python VM, given they've
invested some amount of resources in PyPy in the past, and most recently
Unladen Swallow (merging into Python 3).

------
bootload
_"... Today marks the end of a crazy six year journey for me at Microsoft. I
clearly remember my brutal first 8 months at this company as I worked with
lawyers, marketing folks and execs to figure out if and how we could release
IronPython as an open source project from Microsoft. ..."_

Why did it take 6 years?

~~~
daeken
It didn't. IronPython is open source and has been since early on.

~~~
bootload
_"... It didn't. ..."_

I wasn't referring to IronPython. Why did it take Jim so long to leave?

