[1190] in java-interest
Re: "perform:" and Java
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jayson Raymond)
Fri Aug 25 16:24:47 1995
To: Doug Lea <dl@altair.cs.oswego.edu>, Mike Fleming <mikef@xnet.com>,
"Charles L. Perkins" <clp@home.HarvardSq.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 95 09:47:18 -0500
From: Jayson Raymond <jraymond@connectsoft.com>
CC: "java-interest@java.sun.com" <java-interest@java.sun.com>
-- [ From: Jayson Raymond * EMC.Ver #b.2.5.06 ] --
Doug Lea describes a way for Charles Perkins to be able to get 'eval' like
functionality in Java:
> 1. Translate the message string into a class (i.e., like XdoFoo)
> 2. Compile the class in the current context, generating bytecoded .class
form
> 3. Load the compiled .class form
> 4. Create a new instance of this class with supplied arguments
> 5. Invoke the sole method of this class on this object
In trying to understand this (and I apologize up front for my ignorance),
several questions come to mind. Is this not in essence an interpreter? If it
is, then what we are saying is that we want a source code interpreter to run
on top of a byte code interpreter, correct? Have we fallen into the Turing
tar pit yet?
> * As described so far, this is hopelessly heavy (time/space consuming)
Is this then an acknowledgment that we have indeed fallen in?
> * As described so far, this is hopelessly awkward to use.
Can we not tame the awkwardness once and encapsulate it into a
class/interface?
I concur that this is a highly desirable feature for some applications (and
unfortunately offer no other solutions, merely more questions).
Curiouser and curiouser -
--Jayson
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