Re: Java Interface

On Tue, Jun 14, 2005 at 10:57:09AM -0400, Rajeev Narang wrote:
> I like SISC a lot but still find myself using Jython sometimes for the
> lack of following features.
> 
> i) the type conversion between java types and scheme types should be
> automatic for the basic types like bool, int, string, .... For other
> types the conversion should be defined/ declared once like in bigloo
> module declaration.
> 
> ii) importing a class should automatically import its methods as
> generic procedures.
> 
> iii) java beans should be usable like CLOS objects with constructor
> initialization of slots, and getter and setter methods invoked on
> using and setting of slot values.

This comes up often, we should really have a FAQ. :)

i and ii aren't possible for reasons which are outlined in the SISC 
manual.  Its quite alright to have a library which allows definition of
wrapper functions which do these conversions, but in general the 
mappings between Scheme and Java types aren't a 1:1 correspondence so 
blindly converting will cause type mismatches or ambiguities in method 
dispatch.

iii might be a reasonable goal.  Can you elaborate more on what you'd 
prefer interaction with a bean look like?

> I think the above requires changes to the core of SISC but it will go
> a long way in making SISC usable not just a portable R5RS scheme
> environment but also one of the best for interacting with Java
> libraries.

Fortunately, none of this is 'core' SISC, so modifications are possible.

	Scott


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