CamlJava - an OCaml/Java interface
==================================
DESCRIPTION:
This is a very preliminary release of CamlJava, an OCaml/Java
interface based on the following schema:
Caml/C interface JNI (Java Native Interface)
Caml <------------------> C <-----------------------------> Java
Currently, CamlJava provides a low-level, weakly-typed OCaml interface
very similar to the JNI. Java object references are mapped to an
abstract type, and various JNI-like operations are provided to allow
Java method invocation, field access, and more. A basic callback
facility (allowing Java code to invoke methods on Caml objects) is
also provided, although some stub Java code must be written by hand.
In the future, a higher-level, strongly-typed interface will be
provided, whereas Java classes are mapped directly to Caml classes.
This raises fairly delicate type mapping issues, though, so don't hold
your breath.
REQUIREMENTS:
- This release of CamlJava requires Objective Caml version 3.11 or later.
- A Java implementation that supports JNI (Java Native Interface).
We're currently using OpenJDK for testing.
INSTALLATION ON A UNIX PLATFORM:
- Edit Makefile.config to define parameters depending on your Java
installation. As distributed, the library is set up for
OpenJDK version 17 on a Linux x86 platform.
- make
become superuser
make install
- For testing:
make tst
INSTALLATION ON A WINDOWS PLATFORM:
- Works with the MSVC port of OCaml for Windows.
GNU make and Cygwin tools are required to do the installation.
- Edit Makefile.config.msvc to define parameters depending on your Java
installation.
- make -f Makefile.msvc
make -f Makefile.msvc install
- For testing:
make -f Makefile.msvc tst
USAGE:
The module is named "Jni". A good knowledge of the JNI is assumed; see Sun's
JNI book or http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/docs/guide/jni/
Then, the comments in lib/jni.mli should make sense.
Usage: ocamlc -I +camljava jni.cma ...
or ocamlopt -I +camljava jni.cmxa ...
See the programs in test/ for examples of use.
LICENSE: GNU Library General Public License version 2.
FEEDBACK: e-mail the author, Xavier.Leroy@inria.fr.