Tcl/Java

Last updated
Tcl/Java
Stable release
1.4.1 / April 4, 2008;10 years ago (2008-04-04)
Operating system Cross-platform
Platform Java Virtual Machine
Type Tcl Programming Language Interpreter
License BSD license
Website sourceforge.net/projects/tcljava

Tcl/Java is a project to bridge Tcl and Java. It consists of two distinct packages, Tcl Blend and Jacl.

Tcl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. It was designed with the goal of being very simple but powerful. Tcl casts everything into the mold of a command, even programming constructs like variable assignment and procedure definition. Tcl supports multiple programming paradigms, including object-oriented, imperative and functional programming or procedural styles.

Java (programming language) Object-oriented programming language

Java is a general-purpose computer-programming language that is concurrent, class-based, object-oriented, and specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is intended to let application developers "write once, run anywhere" (WORA), meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need for recompilation. Java applications are typically compiled to bytecode that can run on any Java virtual machine (JVM) regardless of computer architecture. As of 2016, Java is one of the most popular programming languages in use, particularly for client-server web applications, with a reported 9 million developers. Java was originally developed by James Gosling, a Canadian, at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its original features from SmallTalk, with a syntax similar to C and C++, but it has fewer low-level facilities than either of them.

Contents

Tcl Blend

Tcl Blend is a Tcl extension that makes use of JNI to facilitate communication between a Java interpreter and a Tcl interpreter. Tcl Blend is typically used to load a Java interpreter into an existing Tcl process, so that functionality implemented in Java can be accessed in a Tcl script. For example, one could allocate a Java object in a Tcl script and interactively invoke Java methods on the object.

The Java Native Interface (JNI) is a foreign function interface programming framework that enables Java code running in a Java virtual machine (JVM) to call and be called by native applications and libraries written in other languages such as C, C++ and assembly.

One can also load Tcl Blend and Tcl into a Java process, which adds scripting functionality to an existing Java application. Because Tcl Blend is a normal Tcl extension, one can use it with other popular Tcl extensions like Tk, Expect, and Itcl.

Jacl

Jacl is a self-contained implementation of a Tcl interpreter, written entirely in Java. Jacl also includes features that facilitate communication between a Java interpreter and a Tcl interpreter. Jacl is typically used to incorporate Tcl scripting functionality into an existing Java application, without dealing with the complexities of native code that come with loading Tcl Blend into a Java process.

JTcl, a fork of Jacl, was released on November 17, 2010. One of the main goals of JTcl is to continue the modernization of Jacl that began with the Jacl Modernization Project in the Google Summer of Code (GSOC) 2009. [1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ JTcl FAQ
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