Our first year at nbPython!

Our first year at nbPython.org has passed, and the team released our first public update of the
Python Plugin for NetBeans IDE (8.1) on November 24, 2015 !

The plugin is available at http://plugins.netbeans.org/plugin/61688/python
It requires NetBeans IDE 8.1.

Note: This plugin is also available on the NetBeans Plugin Portal Update Center. Use 'Tools > Plugins' action from the NetBeans IDE 8.1 main menu for convenient installation of this plugin!

What's new in this version

(Internal version 151118 )
- Greatly improved stability. Over 200 Bugzilla tickets resolved since December 2014.
- Rudimentary support for Web projects: html, js, css files within a Python project.
- Setuptools project type added (Linux, Solaris and Mac only).
- Improved handling of UTF-8 and other character sets.
- Includes bundled Jython 2.7 (Courtesy of Jython.org ).
- Some debugger bugs fixed; Replacement debugger planned.
- 8.1 verification PASSED!

Improved feature support is planned by the nbPython.org volunteers!
At the top of this list are Autocomplete/Code Completion, Refactoring, and the Debugger.

Thank You!

A big thank you to all involved in the production and final quality assurance of the plugin!
Especially Julien, Julio, Vincent, Ralph, and testers Gregory, Val, Serhii, and Tim.

Special thanks to our "Advisors" Geertjan and Jiří.

We still have work to do, but are encouraged by the progress made.

Like squirrels in Autumn, 2015

Like squirrels getting ready for Winter, we are readying the release of Python for NetBeans IDE 8.1!

Since my last posting in August, we "Resolved" some forty-five (45) bugs in Bugzilla!
We also held a few "Sunday Meetings" at nbPython.HipChat.com related to pre-release tasks.

Here are our Team Members' accomplishments (almost all of our code is written in Java):

I have been coding various bug fixes, packaging/signing/uploading the plugins, maintaining our websites and MySQL, creating "Ad copy", and writing tests for Synergy. Our recent test run was successful; here are the statistics from the Python for NetBeans IDE 8.1 Readiness Check

Julien fixed a number of exceptions, and worked on improving the Plugin's "vocabulary" of Python. He has also been working on Web project support, the beginning of which was implemented in the Python plugin for NetBeans 8.1 - Some support for html, css, and js files in Python projects!

Vincent continues work on UTF-8 (#153498), and several other issues related to encoding. Some fixes have been implemented in the Python plugin for NetBeans 8.1 - and now that he's returned from a month's holiday in sunny California, I expect more fixes will be forthcoming! 

Julio fixed platform auto-detection on Mac OS X and packaged the most recent Jython 2.7 into our current release!

Ralph fixed a number of nagging bugs; he also refactored "hints" and added keywords.

Tim, Julien, Vincent and Julio all helped test the release candidate on the Readiness Check, while Greg and Val helped with testing before and afterward. Good comments made and well-received!

Release the beast! - The big release is scheduled for 23-Nov-2015! After submitting the plugins to NetBeans.org, I will be busy making backups and upgrading our websites and MySQL server the weekend before. Initially we will probably be responding to bugs at Bugzilla, but then we turn our attention to...

Upcoming tasks -  Aside from bug fixing, we will initially work at improving Setuptools project type, Web project support, upgrade to Jython 2.7.1, some new "Sample" projects and (of course) the Debugger. Also, we will be migrating (on Jira) from the Kanban Sandbox over to the Python Project (also Kanban) primarily to avoid confusion about which Jira to use. I'll keep the project spreadsheet updated as time allows.

Let me know if I missed anything, and I'll put it in the next report!

Summertime, 2015

It has been a busy Summer!

Since my last posting, we "Resolved" some ninety (90) bugs in Bugzilla!

Our new infrastructure of website, forums and Atlassian tools including HipChat have been working well for us.

Julien has been implementing Pyramid support, the design of which was documented in Atlassian Confluence. We have also discussed Django implementation, which is another important feature for us. Julien is also helping me with the test cases I am writing in NetBeans' Synergy test tool.

Vincent continues work on UTF-8 (#153498), and related issue #158693. I hope to have him help with some other tasks as he becomes available.

I am working on the debugger, functional/unit tests and Synergy. I am also helping with the JavaFX team at NetBeans NetCAT 8.1, and I continue to meet with the Chicago Pythonistas on a regular basis to garner input.

I have given Greg, Val and Serhii a break from testing, but the new NetBeans 8.1 Beta is here, and we will be ramping up testing this month! To install the Python plugin with the new 8.1 Beta, see How to install new Development build(s) for testing.

As previously reported, Ralph and Julio incorporated Jython 2.7 RC3 (#251765) into our current development release. I have been waiting to see if a maintenance release is forthcoming. Otherwise, I will ask Julio to implement Jython 2.7 Final around September 1.

Upcoming tasks - We continue to work through the bugs at bugzilla. Some decisions need to be made regarding the debugger retrofit OR mitigation of existing bugs (for now). There yet remain key pieces of functionality to be defined and implemented, but we will shortly (?) encounter "feature freeze" and focus on NetBeans Quality Criteria.

Enjoy the sunshine...

The snake is on the move!

Status: I am happy to report we accomplished much in the last month.

In honor of our six-month anniversary, I reworked and "branded" our website and forums!
For those who like to "see the links": http://nbpython.org and http://forums.nbpython.org  Also,
we applied for and received free licenses for Atlassian's suite of tools. See my next post for more...

We now have Jython 2.7 in our Development distribution at NetBeans effective 17-May-2015!
As previously reported, the folks at Jython.org have been very busy, and released Jython 2.7 Final.

Ralph and Julio have incorporated Jython 2.7 RC3 (#251765) into our current development release. Don't worry, it's the same as "2.7 Final"; only the name was changed, as 2.7 RC3 was accepted as "Final" after we incorporated 2.7 RC3 into our release. We plan to include the latest Jython 2.7 (as of July) with the Python Plugin for Netbeans 8.1, and we will make that update in late July, 2015.

Ralph also fixed #155073 and updated the project to build with JDK 7.

Julio and I finished most of the work on Python Platform Autodetect (#251902 and ten other bugs). At roughly two seconds per platform, it's occasionally slow if you have several platforms on your machine. I will investigate avoiding the "slowness detector".

Vincent continues working on UTF-8 (#153498), now that Jython 2.7 is in place. He is also working on related issues #158693 and #171688.

Julien has been working on the design for Pyramid support, as well as testing (setuptools) Projects and the new/updated websites including Agile-JIRA and Confluence..

Val and Serhii are performing some exploratory/UAT testing. You can too!
See: How to install new Development build(s) for testing.

Upcoming tasks - We continue to work through the bugs at bugzilla. and the tasks described above that are not finished. There remain key pieces of functionality to be defined and implemented (TBD).
Greg and I will meet with the Chicago Pythonistas later this week to garner more feedback.

Stay tuned...

Like the winds in April...

Like the winds in April, we are very busy "cleaning things up" at the NetBeans Python Project.

As you may know, the folks at Jython.org have been very busy, and have released Jython 2.7 RC2.
See Jim Baker's presentation at PyCon 2015!  Recently, Ralph and Julio have done some exciting work getting this new Jython ready for testing in NetBeans, and we plan to have Jython 2.7 GA as part of our release (#251765) of the Python Plugin for Netbeans.

Most recently, our new engineer Vincent has taken on getting UTF-8 working (#153498)!

Earlier this month, Ralph also worked on Project2 (Python Projects using Setuptools), and I continue to work on Platform Autodetect (#251902), which appears to need a complete rewrite based on our latest requirements. Also, I find I am spending more time than I would like fending off bots and spam from both netbeans.org and our NBPython forum. A big thank you to the fine folks at BotScout.com for helping to keep our forum clean!

I also spent a little time recruiting, and we are nearly staffed-up to achieve the desired velocity - this month, we welcome Julien Enselme and Val Akkapeddi, who have joined us as Engineers!

Julien Enselme is completing his Master's in Engineering and is currently an intern at Ioda-net, Switzerland. His background includes experience with Pyramid as well as Raspberry Pi and Arduino.

Val Akkapeddi is a Sr. Consultant based in New York. His background includes Java and Java EE, as well as automated testing and deployment/DevOps.

Please give Julien and Val a warm welcome [tremendous applause] !

Upcoming tasks - We continue to work through the bugs at bugzilla. In the coming weeks we will be onboarding the new Engineers and QA Analysts, upgrading our bundled platform in Dev to Jython 2.7 (probably RC3) and making improvements (that I had deferred) to the NBPython.org website.

Stay tuned...

March 2015 retrospective

The time has gone by fast!

Much was accomplished last month.  Jiri modified the clusters.properties config, and we now have a "real" Python build again!  http://hg.netbeans.org/core-main/rev/95c14a4ab557

This has made building much more straightforward, and we can build NBMs locally as well. Debugging is working well for me using Netbeans 8.0.2 and tryme-debug

The conversion from GSF to CSL (Parsing & Indexing) was largely completed, and has been integrated and backported to the development repository at Netbeans.org with good results. Thanks to Ralph and Julio for this. 

Ralph has cleaned up several bugs, and is working on Project2 (Python Projects using Setuptools), and I have been working on PythonPlatformManager, particularly with Autodetect. I could use an engineer that has a Mac, since the typical Python setup appears to be different from both Windows and Linux, according to testing performed by Serhii.

Speaking of testing, last month I was happy to recruit Solaris Developer Tim Foster to perform QA of NetBeans Python support on the Solaris platform.

While Geertjan and Ralph were at NetBeans Day Netherlands, they met Vincent Van Der Leun, who subsequently volunteered to be an Engineer on the Python Project! Vincent is a Java OCPJ and skilled Python developer who has worked for many years at a Netherlands-based startup.

Please give Vincent and Tim a warm welcome [thunderous applause]!

Upcoming tasks - In addition to working through the bugs at bugzilla, in the coming month we will be onboarding new Engineers and QA Analysts, upgrading our bundled platform to Jython 2.7 and making some substantial improvements to our NBPython.org website.

Stay tuned...

A Busy February at the Python Project!

First, let me say how pleased I am to announce that Ralph Benjamin Ruijs (ralphbenjamin) has joined the Python Project as a volunteer Engineer! Ralph currently works on the Java and Editor team at NetBeans. In his spare time, he helped to craft NetBeans Python 8.0.2 plugin for his students at the  Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, where he is a lecturer.

Please give Ralph a warm welcome [great cheers]!

As a result, the conversion from GSF to CSL (Parsing & Indexing) is largely complete, and is being integrated (Julio) and tested internally (Lou, executing Python regression tests) with good results. It is ready to be backported to the development repository at Netbeans.org

My/our sole focus now is to make the NBMs (NetBeans Modules that makeup the plugin) available for our testers. I've spent a lot of time struggling with the current build system to that end. As well, we've had a number of internal discussions regarding the current source code repository and build system used for Python support. Perhaps we'll make some resolutions concerning this.

Stay tuned...