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 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...

Python Project recruits an Engineer!

I'm pleased to announce that Julio (juniel_katarn) has joined the Python Project as an Engineer! He is currently a software development engineer for a major internet retailer, and was previously a software developer at Oracle for 2 1/2 years.

I was very happy when Julio emailed me to accept the position, and even more pleased when he requested to work on the conversion from GSF to CSL (Parsing & Indexing). This is a necessary part of the work required to bring the Python Plugin up-to-date, which will also remedy some current bugs!  It is an epic task that will require several months of (part-time) effort, so let's help him in any way he needs to accomplish the conversion.

Please give Julio a warm welcome [standing ovation]!

Python Project recruits Serhii Hrytsenko for QA!

I'm pleased to announce that Serhii Hrytsenko (SHrytsenko) has joined the Python Project as a QA Tester! He is currently a freelance Software Tester, and is an alumnus of the Software Quality Assurance program at IT Labs UA. 

I was very happy when Serhii emailed me to accept the position, and even more pleased that he has dedicated a good portion of his time to this project. He is currently testing Editor features, reviewing test cases in Synergy, and reading through NetBeans Python bugs in Bugzilla.

He comes recommended to us by Slavik Ivakin, top tester at my JavaFX team on NetCAT 8.0.

Please give Serhii a warm welcome [generous applause]!

Python Project recruits Gregory Winston!

Gregory Winston is our first team member!  I was very happy when Greg emailed me to accept the position of Analyst on the Python Project. This role is essentially like a Product Owner for a particular feature (see the list of "Features" under "Contents" at section 1.2).

He and I have worked together on projects for many years, and he is a good friend.

Greg spent thirteen years over at The Options Clearing Corporation, where he was instrumental in transitioning the OCC from the mainframe to a web environment. More recently, he has been coding in Java and other languages, building robots, and working as a "Mad Scientist". He is an Organizer at the Chicago NetBeans and Chicago JavaFX user groups. Greg is also an outstanding musician and actor.

Please give Greg a warm welcome [thunderous applause]!