Re: [tcljava-dev] Question for Tcl/Expect support for Java

[Mo D. <md...@un...>]

On Thu, 22 May 2003 07:03:10 -0400 (EDT)
"Larry W. Virden" <lv...@ca...> wrote:

> > If someone has convinced you that
> > you can do complex interprocess communication with plain Java, then
> > you have been mislead. If your goal is to remove all C code from
> > your product, then you really have a tough road ahead of you.
> 
> Interesting.  I've never thought about this issue.  I'm in a situation
> where there is indeed an effort to remove most, if not all, C code not
> only from one product, but most products.
> 
> Is there some references I can read to learn more about the challenges
> awaiting me?

Well, I was talking only about the specific challenge of replacing a expect
functionality (in C code) with Java code that does the same thing. The
reason this is such a problem is because Java's IPC API is really lacking.
If you would like to see an example of how bad thing can get, take a
look at the exec command implementation in Jacl. It is a bit ugly under
Unix, but the Windows version is just plain scary.

There are plenty of other cases where rewriting a C lib in Java would
likely be a good idea. Java code tends to have fewer crashing bugs
and wickedly complex memory code just because of the fact that
coders don't need to worry about memory. As far as references go,
I don't have any for you. I am just talking from personal experience here.

Mo