Re: C to JVM, time to revive JGNAT?

[Georg Bauhaus <bauhaus@futureapps.de>]

Dmitry A. Kazakov wrote:
> AMPC (Axiomatic Multi-Platform C):
> 
> http://www.axiomsol.com/
> 

I find the idea more than obvious. Zillions of mobile
computers and the like are driven by JVMs. Major web sites,
too.
Ada, as has been explained and also proven as early as 1996
by Tucker Taft and collegues, is a language well suited for
targeting the JVM.

I'm using an Ada->J-code compiler, and I must say that in spite
of some rough edges (it's not full Ada 95, older byte codes
just like JGNAT), it's fun, it's quick, and it works.
The Java-Ada integration is very smooth, quite unlike your
usual binding. Tons of libraries at your finger tips.

Is it that Ada programmers feel bad about virtual
machines? Do they feel more powerful when they can
pretend to themselves to be controlling "the metal"?


According to Robert Dewar at FOSDEM, GNAT is going the JNI
and/or "OO-ABI" path, which I interpret to also mean that
Redhat is funding GCC development for compiling the Java
language directly to machine code. GCC C++ ways can
be integrated with GCC Ada ways.

But how can Java, compiled to processor instructions, be
so helpful where the OS is really a specialized JVM?

Sometimes research going into Real Time Java, Java memory
management, object lifetime etc, is really reapeating Ada
stories, AFAICT from my limited view.
What if the two efforts can be readily integrated, taking
advantage of Ada features, JVM libraries, portability,
etc etc?


 --  Georg