Re: [java-gnome-hackers] topic for discussion

[Mark H. <mh...@ca...>]

Hello,

First I must say that I know nothing of CNI - before looking at
java-gnome, I didn't know any details of JNI either.

CNI does sound very interesting.

Do CNI apps not use a jvm at all then? Could you please give a summary
of what CNI is/how it works; or point to a website about it (a short one
preferably)

On Sat, Feb 28, 2004 at 10:45:08AM -0500, Jeffrey Morgan wrote:
> The core questions are "How will developers be using our bindings?"
Gnome/Linux apps - always have gcc; don't often have a jvm.
Embedded apps - low memory
Windows apps? (But would require compiled gtk)

> our bindings work with standard JVMs or should we take the approach
> that our bindings and all applications should that use them should
> use the gcc suite?
I recently released by bugwatcher app to Debian. Trying to support all
jvms will be virtually impossible. "Forcing" our users to use gcc might
be beneficial in terms of support.

> Pros/Cons

> JNI only - JNI runs slower and producers larger bindings.  JNI is also
Do you have any figures for performance?

> harder to develop than CNI.  On the plus side our bindings will work
> with all open source and commercial JVMs.
This is fallacy. I think we should really avoid phrases like this. It
makes people think that java-gnome may run under windows. Java-Gnome
requires gtk/gnome; therefore we require both gcc and some jvm.

> CNI only - CNI will run faster, produce smaller bindings, and is
> easier to write.  Also, our build process will be significantly 
> simpler since we will not need to detect and set as many compile
> alternatives.  On the down side our bindings will only work with 
> gcc/gcj.
So all applications also have to be compiled to native code with gcj? 

> JNI and CNI bindings - You get the option of choosing the native
> code you wish.  The down side is that we have to maintain the 
> native layer in two locations and we add yet another complexity
> to our build process.
An example of java-gnome changes to say one class would be good to see -
what would be involved?

> Please let me know what you think.  Also, should we take this 
> debate to the developers list?
There are probably quite a few people on the developers list who know
more about jni/cni than I do, so I'd say yes.

-- 
  .''`. Mark Howard
 : :' :
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