28 6 / 2010
Skulpt: Python Implementation in JavaScript
Skulpt is an entirely in browser implementation of Python. Much like other languages written on top of JavaScript, such as Objective-J and CoffeeScript, Skulpt loads, parses and runs the language with no compilation, pre-processing, plugins or server-side code necessary. This makes it possible to write Python code, include it in an HTML page, and have it run without any additional work - something very appealing to us lazy web developers!
Skulpt supports almost all of the Python language features, including generators (like what JavaScript 1.7 was promising), as well as ranges, string formatters and many other Python niceties. It looks like the eventual goal of the project is to build a GUI framework written in Python for web apps. Very cool!
This is just another example of the power of JavaScript as a virtual machine. The performance of JavaScript engines has just gone through the roof and made things like this possible. A diversity of languages on the web will be good for all of us as web developers in the long run.
You can check out the Skulpt website to try an interactive in browser demo, and if you want to check out the code, it is on Google Code. Go Web!
