Python on Heroku
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. is this documented, or something you just stumbled upon? 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. most(all?) linux distros ship with atleast a minimal version of python. I guess that's the reason 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 Perf will suck. Like running a CGI process for each request if using this for python web app.