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Python on Heroku

10 points by phob ↗ HN
You can run python on heroku with a system call from a ruby app. Just run something like:

@output = `echo \"#{variable}\" | python script.py`.

This will let you read standard out from a python script.

7 comments

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nolite
is this documented, or something you just stumbled upon?
SingAlong
most(all?) linux distros ship with atleast a minimal version of python. I guess that's the reason
nolite
yeah ok, but if they run you in a chroot environment, you get nothing. They're also under no obligation to add python to your PATH.. a ton of reasons this could not be the case
silverlight
The fact that you can use the backticks to run commands on the server itself is well documented both from a Ruby standpoint and a Heroku standpoint (several of their examples in their documentation use this method to execute a variety of commands).

As for using Python, like another poster said it's included in most Linux distros, and Heroku is really just running a Linux distro at the end of the day. I imagine that if you wanted to run a really simple script they wouldn't care, but I wouldn't build my whole app around it, because they can turn it off at any time.

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[dead] phob
I just stumbled upon it. I am a student, and I had to set up a small site for a class which implemented a solution to a problem that I had already solved in python...
mckoss
Perf will suck. Like running a CGI process for each request if using this for python web app.