Another cool CTP I came across recently was the Iron Python for ASP.NET CTP. IronPython was released as an open-source project earlier this year (it’s available to download from CodePlex ) which was pretty cool in itself, but now there’s a nifty add-on for ASP.NET that allows you to use IronPython in your code-behind (or –beside, as the mood takes you) pages.

The .NET 2.0 CLR seems to really like IronPython. I’ve been told it runs faster than many C-based versions of the language. My own experiments have been too small-scale to provide a decent test, but I can certainly say it’s fast compared to C# and VB. Linking it up to ASP.NET was a great idea and certainly worth a look at if you need to put together any fast-and-dirty ASP applications where Python’s simplicity and speed of development would be an advantage.* The team’s page on asp.net contains links to a series of walk-throughs that will help get you started. The CTP’s, not supported for Vista yet, though, so watch out if you’re running ahead of the curve.

* Always provided you’re already familiar with Python’s syntax, of course!