Jython interp. problem

[Terry Hancock <hancock@anansispaceworks.com>]

Hi,
I've installed the "jdk1.1" and "jython" packages from Woody on my system and 
am trying to use jython interactively.

It's fine (albeit *slow*) when running a source file non-interactively:

peregrin:~/Learn> cat sample.py
def spam():
    print 'spam'

spam()

peregrin:~/Learn> jython sample.py
spam

But when I try do this interactively, I first of all can't use
tabs for indenting, but more importantly:

peregrin:~/Learn> jython
Jython 2.1 on java1.1.8 (JIT: null)
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> def spam():
...     print 'spam'
... 
Traceback (innermost last):
  (no code object) at line 0
  File "<console>", line 3
        null
        ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>> 

Anybody have an idea what this is about? I'm not even sure I understand this 
error message. Clearly I didn't type "null" -- it would seem to be complaining
about getting an empty line at the end of the function definition -- but 
that's how you end a def in python (and I typed exactly the same thing
into my C Python interpreter and got the expected result -- no matter whether
I use tabs or spaces).  It *is* weird that Jython doesn't let me type a tab
to indent this function (I had to type 4 spaces instead) -- but it really 
shouldn't matter.

No doubt the slowness is due to the lack of JIT as it says (I am using Java 
1.1 intentionally, because I want Jython primarily to write applets).

Thanks for any ideas,
Terry

--
Terry Hancock ( hancock at anansispaceworks.com )
Anansi Spaceworks  http://www.anansispaceworks.com