Re: GNAT and JVM

[Georg Bauhaus <rm.tsoh.plus-bug.bauhaus@maps.futureapps.de>]

raould wrote:
> There are some things I would kinda like to know re: the recent
> announcements. They do a lousy job of explaining WTF their system
> actually can do, and how it does it. All buzzwords (JVM! .Net!) and
> very insufficient technical details :-(

Technical detail, tutorial examples, and a supplement to the
User's Guide can be found in the \doc subdirectory after
installation.

> a) which Java/.Net VMs does it really support? 

1.5, 1.6.


> b) is it just the JNI bridge,

No.
JGNAT is a bytecode compiler.
SofCheck's AppletMagic is a bytecode compiler, too.
They both produce .class files.

If you like, you can write Ada packages that mimic Java
class structure. You needn't do that, though. If you do,
then Java programmers can unknowingly use Ada packages
as if they had been written in Java.
The basic idea is to follow certain conventions
when you write the Ada package. (One tagged type,
a controlling parameter of the type, and pragmas for
controlling the mapping to JVM things like constructors).