[Metakit] Starting work on a Java version of Metakit

[Bruce A.Johnson]

My plan was to, as you say, "literally re-implement Metakit in Java".   
I'm not interested in a solution that is not in pure Java.

As to your qualms.
1) I agree that keeping the features in step with Metakit would require  
a significant effort.  On the other hand, at the moment I am not using  
nearly all the features of metakit and would rather have a partial  
implementation than no implementation.  Also, the progress I've made in  
a few hours suggests that a basic implementation would not be a huge  
amount of work.  For example, using java.nio ByteBuffer and  
FileChannel.map has allowed a very quick implementation of memory  
mapped metakit files.  Finally, I think metakit is cool enough that  
quite a few Java people might be interested in helping.

2)  In some applications Java performance is really very good (and  
often underestimated).  And the fact that a great deal of use of  
Metakit is made through scripting interfaces that are slower than the  
native C++ versions suggests that a native Java version would be quite  
usable for many applications.

On the other hand, I am discussing with jcw some alternative methods  
for getting a Metakit type solution in pure Java.

cheers,

Bruce

On May 12, 2005, at 10:44 AM, gary.h.merrill at gsk.com wrote:

>
> I'm a little unclear about the project scope here.  Do you intend to  
> literally re-implement Metakit in Java?  Or do you intend to write an  
> effective and easily used Java "wrapper" for the underlying Metakit  
> C++ library (like the Python wrapper)?
>
> If the latter, I can see the advantage.  If the former, I'm a bit  
> skeptical about the result.  There are two qualms I have with it.  The  
> first is that this would require substantial effort to keep its  
> features in step with evolving Metakit features.  The second is  
> performance.
>
> <unknown.jpg><mime- 
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Bruce A. Johnson, President
One Moon Scientific, Inc.
839 Grant Ave.
Westfield, NJ 07090

Phone 908 517-5105
Fax      908 517-5107
Email  bruce at onemoonscientific.com
Web    www.onemoonscientific.com
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