Re: [jnc-users] JNC version 1.1.1 only works with version 1.1 backend

[Marco T. <ma...@mt...>]

Hi Gerolf

On 01/23/2014 06:30 AM, ge...@no... wrote:
> Dear Marco,
>
> being a newbie, I first wanted to make sure that I can produce
> executable binaries before I waste too much time learning Java,

I'm not maintaining JNC anymore. Either it works out of the box for you 
or you have to look for another solution. The only other native compiler 
I know is Excelsior Jet. It's a full blown native compiler that will 
work for you, but it is not exactly cheap.
But maybe wrapping your program into a binary instead of real native 
compilation will be sufficient for your case. There are many solutions 
doing that.
And I don't think you will waste time learning Java. It doesn't matter 
if you will be using it as your main language or not. The more languages 
you know, the better a programmer you will be (and the easier it will be 
to learn even more programming languages).

> 3. The same thing happened when I compiled the AWT text editor
> example. I thought I must have made a silly mistake concerning
> the installation folders or the JNC settings, but then I noticed
> that the archive already contained pre-compiled binaries - and
> these ones failed in the same way, on both Windows and Linux!

This is a known thread race problem (meaning I know about it). AWT has a 
bug that happens to work with the threading implementation of the 
Sun/Oracle JVM. But actually it shouldn't according to the Java 
threading specs which are how GCJ implemented it. The GCJ guys actually 
wanted to implement it the Sun/Oracle JVM way but have a bug that makes 
it only compatible with the threading specs.

> 4. As you recommend using SWT stating that it is fully supported
> while AWT and Swing support is still experimental, I tried to
> compile a "Hello World" program using SWT:
> http://www.mkyong.com/swt/swt-hello-world-example/
> Here I inevitably got "import cannot be resolved" error messages.
> So in the FAQ a hint for the newbies on how to use SWT with JNC
> would be helpful.

Sounds like the problem explained in the Manual.
http://jnc.mtsystems.ch/more_info.html -> Manuals.

> I got the impression that you made a severe mistake in "bundling" a
> somewhat buggy GCC with your latest version of JNC

If I understand you right, then you mean that the AWT examples start 
with the older GCJ version, but not with the newer GCJ version 
(compilation works in both). This is the problem I explained above; a 
thread race. The problem exists in both JNC/GCJ versions. Mostly the GUI 
won't open, sometimes it will. Seems for you it just happened to opened 
with the older version (probably due to the smaller binary).

> I do not hear a "beep when done",

Maybe the beeping offered in the old SWT version used for the JNC GUI 
doesn't work with the latest Windows/Debian releases. Or maybe your 
internal speaker is disabled/nonexistent. Doesn't sound too critical to me.

> and I do not understand the line "Checkbox: Compile complete jar"
> on the "Step 1" page since there is no checkbox.

I see checkboxes:
http://jnc.mtsystems.ch/images/screenshots/3-source.png

> So what about a version 1.1.2 bugfix to state that JNC is still alive?

I'm not maintaining JNC anymore. Also I think GCJ is not maintained anymore.

> On my side, I think I will continue "playing" with JNC. I like it.

It sounds to me that it's not worth the time. If you learn one (or 
better: multiple) programming languages without worrying about 
compilation, your time will probably be invested better.

Cheers!
Marco