For the past week or two, I've been investigating what it would take to write something that would allow *.clj and *.java files to seamlessly compile together, such that they could be freely intermixed in a project. I knew it was a difficult problem, but I think the adoption benefits would be substantial, and the benefits huge for those stuck in Java-land at work.
My conclusion (and *please* tell me if I'm missing something) is, unfortunately, that the problem requires full compiler support from both ends. Either a new compiler needs to be written that can compile both Clojure and Java, or the existing Java/Clojure compilers need some fairly extensive patching to make this possible, to share a dependency graph and symbol tables. The exception would be if it were possible to simply "pass through" class references when compiling *.clj files to *.class files, and not resolve them until run-time (or perhaps a seperate "resolution" phase of the compile process, for more compile-time safety). I realize this can't be done for dependencies between Clojure source files, since macro definitions are required at compile time. But is there any reason you couldn't do this for Java references from Clojure files? Then, it'd be very easy - just compile all the Clojure, put the classes in the classpath, and compile the Java. Any thoughts? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with your first post. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en
