Professional IronPython™

Chapter 2. Understanding the IronPython Basics

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Creating your IronPython applications using Visual Studio

• Using capitalization and indentation properly

• Working with various types of data

• Working with the IronPython modules

• Using functions in IronPython

• Configuring the IronPython environment for maximum productivity

No matter what language you want to learn, you always start with the basics. However, you don't always start with the very basics. Once you know what a loop looks like in one language, you can usually recognize it in other languages as well. That's how this chapter begins the process of working with IronPython. This isn't a comprehensive guide for the rank novice, but rather the kind of guide that someone who has used a .NET language before will appreciate.

Of course, professionals like professional tools. This chapter shows how to forgo the Notepad programming experience to work with Visual Studio to create IronPython applications. You might have already noticed that installing IronPython didn't add any new templates to the New Project dialog box — there isn't any IronPython folder for you to look in.

IronPython is different from most .NET languages in that indentation is an important part of the application code. If you don't indent your code properly, the IronPython interpreter will complain, loudly. As with many programming languages, capitalization is also important when working with IronPython — a variable named MyVariable is completely different from ...