Batavia

Batavia is an implementation of the Python virtual machine, written in Javascript. With Batavia, you can run Python bytecode in your browser.

It honours Python 3.4.4+ syntax and conventions, and lets you reference objects and classes defined natively in JavaScript.

How to help

So you want to contribute to an Open Source project? Batavia is a great place to start. Here are instructions on contributing to Batavia.

So, why is it called "Batavia"?

On 27 October, 1628, Commandeur Francisco Pelsaert took command of the Batavia, and with 340 passengers and crew, set sail from Texel.

Their destination? The Spice Islands - or more specifically, island of Java in the Dutch East Indies (now part of Indonesia).

The Batavia was... a Java ship (da-dum 🥁!).

Interestingly, during the voyage, Ariaen Jacobsz and onderkoopman Jeronimus Cornelisz incited a mutiny, because they didn't want to go to Java - they wanted to escape to start a new life somewhere else. As a result of the mutiny, on 4 June 1629, the Batavia ran aground on Morning Reef, part of the Houtman Abrolhos, about 450km North of Perth, Western Australia, where this project was conceived.

The full story of the Batavia is known to most Western Australian schoolchildren, and is a harrowing tale of intrigue, savagery, and murder. It serves as a reminder of what can happen when you force people to go to Java :-)

The wreck of the Batavia was recovered in the 1970s, and now stands in the shipwrecks gallery of the Western Australian Maritime Museum.