Invoking Jython from Python (or Vice Versa)

Question

I'm working on a framework right now, part of which requires Jython. I just added some plotting to it using MatPlotLib, without realizing that MatPlotLib is incompatible with Jython. Since these two parts are pretty isolated, and I would be fine running most of the program in Python and passing a small amount of information to the Jython part (or vice versa), I was wondering if there's a simple way to do this, while maintaining the modular nature of the framework. Ideas?

Answer 1

I have not used execnet for anything serious, but it seems quite possible that it is a good choice for you. execnet is a Python library for distributed execution across version, platform, and network barriers.

It is not hard to get started. This simple Jython script (that invokes NumPy) worked for me without a hitch:

import execnet

gw = execnet.makegateway("popen//python=python")
channel = gw.remote_exec("""
    from numpy import *
    a = array([2,3,4])
    channel.send(a.size)
""")

for item in channel:
    print item

Output:

3

The documentation includes an example that goes in the opposite direction (a CPython interpreter connecting to a Jython interpreter).