The GNAT Ada-Java Interfacing Suite is a collection of GNAT Pro add-on tools for combining native Ada code with Java applications that run on a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Through these tools you can call natively-compiled Ada from Java, and call Java from native Ada programs. This enterprise-oriented toolsuite lets Ada teams interoperate with companies and groups doing Java development, with an interfacing facility that is efficient and type safe.
A separate product, GNAT for the JVM, provides a complementary capability: compiling Ada directly to JVM bytecodes.
Benefits
Interfacing between Ada and Java has been simplified in Ada 2005 through a number of new language features. The GNAT Ada-Java Interfacing Suite takes full advantage of these features and thus allows users to engineer standards-compliant mixed Ada/Java systems.
Benefits include:
- Smooth and efficient interfacing
- Makes Ada components available to Java developers
- Makes Java classes available to Ada developers, for example:
- Java graphical interface frameworks such as SWT, Swing, and Eclipse-RCP
- The large supply of off-the-shelf Java components
- Supported by standard AdaCore Integrated Development Environments
- GNAT Programming Studio (GPS)
- GNATbench Eclipse plug-in
Technical features
- Allows calls from Ada to Java, and from Java to Ada
- Provides an Ada binding to the low-level Java Native Interface (JNI) library
- Provides an automated and type-safe binding generator from Ada to Java
- Automates the generation of JNI “glue” code
- Supports access to various Ada constructs from Java, including:
- Subprograms, types, variables, and constants
- Tagged types, with cross-language dispatching for Ada types extended in Java
- Supports exception propagation through Ada and Java frames
- Allows efficient implementation of Java native methods in Ada
