Python is, of course, a dynamic interpreted language rather than a static compiled language such as the one used by TouchDevelop. Furthermore, a version of Python that compiled to the TouchDevelop AST would be a completely new language - a Pythonic shim to make TouchDevelop feel like Python. Finally, TouchDevelop itself is written in TypeScript, an interesting Microsoft-developed language that compiles to JavaScript. None of us evaluating TouchDevelop knew TypeScript and the thought of creating a new compiler for a sort-of-Python, frankly, gave us the collywobbles.
Ultimately, designing and creating something Python-ish to work on TouchDevelop appeared to be impossibly difficult (or difficultly impossible, depending on how you looked at it) for a handful of volunteers working in their spare time in an unfamiliar language.
It was at this time that something amazing happened.
I was at a partner's meeting at the BBC and, quite by accident, struck up a tea-break conversation with "Jonny from ARM, pleased to meet you". It turned out that Jonny is a fellow geek, but one that inhabits a different layer of the computing stack (I generally work in high level languages like Python or JavaScript, Jonny feels more at home close to the bare metal hacking hardware).
After we'd figured out the above, Jonny asked, "have you ever heard of MicroPython?" (MicroPython is a full re-implementation of Python 3 for microcontrollers used in small devices such as the micro:bit).
Related Stories
The BBC Micro Bit, a computer that was intended to be given to 1 million British schoolchildren back in October, has been delayed again:
The corporation said it now planned to start giving teachers their own units just after the half-term holidays, to help them plan classes. It added it was "pushing to deliver as many as possible" to pupils before the term's end but could not be more specific about how many or when. The idea behind the project has been widely praised, but some teachers are concerned they will no longer have enough time to do it justice this school year.
The Micro Bit is designed to run code written by children that will let them display text and patterns on its 25 LEDs and make use of its built-in sensors.
[...] [On] Wednesday, at the Bett education trade show in London, the BBC said its timetable had slipped again.
"The main issue has been some fine-tuning," BBC Learning executive Cerys Griffiths said. "We have created hardware, it's very complex, it's very sophisticated, it's very new. What we were really hoping for was that the teachers would get their devices before Christmas. But our commitment to teachers has always been that we would get them the devices first to give them time to play and get familiar with them."
Previously:
BBC Micro:Bit Delayed by Power Supply SNAFU
The Story of MicroPython on the BBC micro:bit
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Rich on Thursday October 22 2015, @11:06AM
The availability of Python plus an offline browser-based (== "cross-platform") code editor breaks through the TouchDevelop lock-in and brings the micro:bit more in-line with what tinkerers are expecting from the RasPi workflow. Given that this thingy is to be handed out to millions of kids, this is not an entirely unimportant development.
ps: Apparently they had a bit of feature creep to make all this possible (but I doubt specifically for Python). I remember the prototype had some rather sorry controller chip onboard and now their USB controller (KL26Z according to Wiki) has 3 times the power of the main CPU (nRF51822).
(Score: 4, Informative) by tibman on Thursday October 22 2015, @02:18PM
You aren't kidding about feature creep. When you look at where the micro:bit was before ARM, Microsoft, and friends became involved it was much simpler. After they became involved the project actually split in two. The official one is what we see now. The unofficial one is called CodeBug and is being developed by the original creator (afaik). The official one after the complete redesign practically doubled in size because of the 2xAA battery pack dangling from it.
Original prototype: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-03/12/bbc-micro-bit-hands-on [wired.co.uk]
CodeBug: http://www.codebug.org.uk/ [codebug.org.uk]
Current micro:bit: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-09/18/bbc-micro-bit-delayed [wired.co.uk]
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(Score: 2, Informative) by cyberthanasis on Thursday October 22 2015, @07:55PM
It is going to face much competiton. The pyboard mentioned in the article has better specs, it has much simpler interface and it costs 35 euros or so. I wonder how much micro:bit will cost when it is available.
MicroPython is really cool. And it is also the OS, at least in pyboard (https://micropython.org// [micropython.org]).