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I think this is fun stuff. I always enjoyed building things like this.
That said, in 2025 if I was already willing to utilize C#/.NET, I would probably prefer an "internal" DSL approach [0] - i.e., one that leverages the host language directly and builds the abstractions on top.
Examples of this would be fluent interfaces and methods like ConfigureDomainServices(Action<DomainServiceBuilder>). I know some developers frown on this approach, but I've embraced it as the least terrible way to go about handling things like AspNetCore web server configuration and setting up complicated data transformation pipelines. If these techniques are good enough for configuring a modern, production grade web server, they are probably good enough for configuring your domain too.
I spent a solid 3 years building & supporting an IronPython stack on the old 4.x .NET Framework and I learned a lot of lessons about how bad things can get when you begin coloring outside the lines. Memory leaks were probably the most difficult thing to reason about. Object lifecycles are already pretty tricky without the hosted language on top.
By giancarlostoro 2025-05-3016:151 reply > I spent a solid 3 years building & supporting an IronPython stack on the old 4.x .NET Framework and I learned a lot of lessons about how bad things can get when you begin coloring outside the lines. Memory leaks were probably the most difficult thing to reason about. Object lifecycles are already pretty tricky without the hosted language on top.
I'm a little jealous ;) As someone who codes in both Python and C# mainly, never had to touch IronPython for an employer yet.
It's sad that IronPython is effectively dead, but PythonNet is now very stable, complete, and friendly to recent Pythons.
By e-master 2025-05-3020:32 pythonnet works, we use it in a pretty large (Python) codebase, but I’m much more excited about https://github.com/tonybaloney/CSnakes, which allows using Python in a proper statically typed language - C#.
By sinisterMage 2025-05-3016:161 reply Thanks! I really appreciate you taking the time to write this up — super insightful.
I definitely get the appeal of internal DSLs, especially with how powerful C#’s fluent APIs have become. W++ takes a bit of a different path: more like “what if .NET had a native scripting layer that felt expressive and lightweight,” even if that means giving up some safety or flexibility of the host language.
And wow — 3 years with IronPython is no joke. Totally agree on how tricky it can get once you step outside the intended boundaries. I’m keeping W++ focused more on smaller, experimental scripting for now, but your point about memory and lifecycle management is a great reminder for anything that gets more ambitious.
Cheers for the link to Fowler’s DSL article too — gold.
By sorezore 2025-05-3016:28 [flagged]
> Memory leaks were probably the most difficult thing to reason about. Object lifecycles are already pretty tricky without the hosted language on top.
I thought the whole point of these high level langs was that you don't have to worry about that?
By sinisterMage 2025-05-3016:44 Totally fair question — most high-level languages do take care of memory for you, especially with garbage collection.
But in hosted scenarios like IronPython or W++ (where the language is layered on top of .NET), things can get trickier:
You're managing your own object model inside a host runtime.
If you're not careful, it's easy to create long-lived references (like global caches or circular structures) that the GC won’t clean up.
In IronPython's case, hosting decisions (like how objects interop with .NET classes) can leak unintentionally if lifecycle logic isn't airtight.
So yeah — you usually don't think about memory... unless you're writing the language
By make3 2025-05-3019:40 Are you saying that IronPython in general has memory leak issues? or just because you were trying to add support for an old .NET framework
A bit of off topic, but recently I started learning F# because my new team at work uses it heavily, and even though I love writing in C# and even though the latest C# features are really nice (especially love patter matching), I wish now C# didn’t have the curly braces and semicolons at all, and used instead indentation based grouping like F# and Python does. That is practically all I wish I had in C#… and discriminated unions, but let’s be honest, what are the chances of that happening? ;)
By pjerem 2025-05-316:46 F# is an hidden gem, iteration 5 278.
I think it stays niche because it’s targeted at people knowing the dotnet ecosystem but most of those people reason a lot in OOP/imperative because well, they work with C#.
But it’s amazing to me that F# is still evolving and cutting edge after more than two decades of being extremely niche. You’d think Microsoft would abandon it or let it rot but no. Though I think F# is in fact the laboratory for new language features for C#.
Does this start up quickly on the first execution? IronPython and other languages have problems with JIT resulting in minor delays to execution which are frustrating for quick scripts. There was a change in IronPython to interpret and not JIT on the first run to avoid this delay. Anything you use to remove JIT delays for quick scripts will increase the likelihood of adoption. Running JIT on repeat runs is a beneficial feature so you don't want to kill it entirely.
As others have stated, the use of semicolons while stating this is "like Python" is weird. Use language which avoids the direct Python comparison. It seems like your language is intended to be succinct. Just state that because it'll avoid negative reactions. I'm a C# and Python dev, so I'd rather you avoided this in-between state.
Killing semicolons and braces to embrace indentation would be my preference for a scripting language that is intended to appeal to my Python-side. If the intention is to appeal purely to C# devs, then don't mention Python at all because they often jump to "indentation, ugh" without considering your language.
By sinisterMage 2025-05-3016:51 Thanks for the thoughtful feedback — you raised a few great points I hadn’t fully considered.
You're absolutely right about JIT startup time. Currently, W++ doesn't do any caching or ahead-of-time work, so there’s a delay on the first run. I’ll explore ways to keep it snappy for quick scripts — maybe a pure interpreter fallback for single-run use cases would help.
Also appreciate the insight on the Python comparison. That “in-between state” you described is exactly where I’m at — trying to blend Python’s simplicity with .NET’s power. But you’re right, the messaging could be cleaner. I’ll adjust the README to better reflect that W++ is its own thing and not a direct clone or pitch to Python devs.
This kind of comment is gold, seriously. Thanks for taking the time.
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