/JythonTalk

My January 2014 DCPython talk on game development using Jython and LibGDX

Primary LanguagePythonMIT LicenseMIT

% Creating Games With Python And Java % Davis Silverman

About Me

  • Amateur programmer and game developer
  • High school now, college in the future
  • Seeking a job as a developer! wink wink, nudge nudge

Jython

  • CPython is the reference implementation for Python.
  • Jython is a Python implementation in Java
  • Offers superb interoperability with Java libraries, along with the amazing benefits of the JVM
  • 2.7 betas are out!

Comparisons of CPython and Jython

#Jython                  |  #CPython
def fibonacci():         |  def fibonacci():
    a, b = 0, 1          |      a, b = 0, 1  
    while True:          |      while True:
        yield a          |          yield a
        a, b = b, a + b  |          a, b = b, a + b

LibGDX

  • A cross-platform Java game development framework based on OpenGL (ES) that works on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Android, your WebGL enabled browser and iOS.

![]

My Work with LibGDX

  • Translated the LibGDX wiki (GoogleCode -> Github)
  • Worked on Polyglot LibGDX (as shown in this very talk!)
  • Regular on IRC
  • Started game-dev club at my school to teach and create games with LibGDX

LibGDX Classes Of Use

  • ApplicationListener is the base java interface for a LibGDX game
  • OrthographicCamera for camera magic
  • SpriteBatch to draw on the screen
  • Standard math classes Vector2, Rectangle, etc.

Small example!

  • Small game from our wiki translated to Python
  • To the demo! (I hope this works!)

Limitations of LibGDX with Jython

  • GWT * This backend is Java only, so non-Java HTML LibGDX backend is a pipe dream * Scala might work, as they seem to have some sort of scala-gwt in the works.

  • Enforces an OO approach.

Future

  • Android Support

    • Once Jython can attain DynamicProxy support, it might be possible to have Jython-LibGDX on Android!

  • iOS support

    • the RoboVM backend runs the Android class library, so if it can Android, there is a good chance it can iOS!

  • Packaging

    • There has been some work on compiling/packaging Jython into jars, this will make distribution of your awesome Python games very easy!

More pythonic LibGDX (mostly random ideas)

  • with render(batch): ...
  • Extending LibGDX util classes to conform to python: len(com.badlogic.utils.Array())
  • So much more good stuff (magic so not enforced OO? WHO KNOWS?!?!)
  • Reduce need of both __init__ and create methods (possibly using metaclass magic?)
  • Runtime introspection so dispose() is not needed?
  • Jython3k and function annotations could help Jython when interoperating with their static host languages

Thanks!

  • Jim Baker, who has given me lots of insight into Jython, and convinced me to do this talk.

  • ZPUGDC (DCPython), for having me. <3

  • The internet, for helping me learn so much.

Links!

[]: gdx.jpg