Abstract
In the context of direct and reflection based extension mechanisms for the Jinni 2000 Java based Prolog system, we discuss the design and the implementation of a reflection based Prolog to Java interface. While the presence of dynamic type information on both the Prolog and the Java sides allows us to automate data conversion between method parameters, the presence of subtyping and method overloading makes finding the most specific method corresponding to a Prolog call pattern fairly difficult. We describe a run-time algorithm which closely mimics Java’s own compile-time method dispatching mechanism and provides accurate handling of overloaded methods beyond the reflection package’s limitations. As an application of our interfacing technique, a complete GUI library is built in Prolog using only 10 lines of application specific Java code.
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Tyagi, S., Tarau, P. (2001). A Most Specific Method Finding Algorithm for Reflection Based Dynamic Prolog-to-Java Interfaces. In: Ramakrishnan, I.V. (eds) Practical Aspects of Declarative Languages. PADL 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1990. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45241-9_22
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45241-9_22
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