Jython

Overview

Jython is a great OO language to teach kids to program

Why Jython[1] language isn´t yet part of the OLPC $100 laptop project? Is there a better language around, talking about clean syntax design (=Python), fully interpreted mode, web 2.0 capabilities (RSS & podcasts) combined with the power of Java SE 6 language? In summary, Jython delivers nice features to build a zero cost, educational IT platform under Linux.

Some arguments to run Jython & Java6 under the OLPC platform:

Jython & Rome package (see Jython newsletter Oct/2007)[2] is an elegant way to do syndication and aggregation of podcast links though RSS. A MP3 player is a very interesting audio tool to complement the OLPC as the hardware cost of a tiny MP3 player is lower as a single printed book.

Java allows to run small scale web servers (for ex. Jetty6 package). Its about authoring of digital contents and build a school Intranet for collaboration. Jython makes a difference to produce dynamic contents by Java servlets.

Jython & Java 6 allows to teach database programming including SQL (see Derby and Java6).

Swing offers a great interface to build visual GUI´s, for example for physics and math labs.

Question

Does SUN deliver a JRE SE6 version with an open licence for the OLPC platform?