The Java. Native

THIS book covers the Java™ Native Interface (JNI). It will be useful to you if you are interested in any of the following: • integrating a Java application with legacy code written in languages such as C or C++ • incorporating a Java virtual machine implementation into an existing application written in languages such as C or C++ • implementing a Java virtual machine • understanding the technical issues in language interoperability, in particular how to handle features such as garbage collection and multithreading First and foremost, the book is written for developers. You will find easy steps to get started with the JNI, informative discussions on various JNI features, and helpful tips on how to use the JNI effectively. The JNI was initially released in early 1997. The book summarizes two years of collective experience gained by engineers at Sun Microsystems as well as the vast number of developers in the Java technology community. Second, the book presents the design rationale of various JNI features. Not only is this of interest to the academic community, but a thorough understanding of the design is also a prerequisite to using the JNI effectively. Third, a part of the book is the definitive JNI specification for the Java 2 platform. JNI programmers may use the specification as a reference manual. Java virtual machine implementors must follow the specification to achieve conformance. Send comments on this specification or questions about JNI to our electronic mail address: jni@java.sun.com. For the latest on the Java 2 platform, or to get the latest Java 2 SDK release, visit our web site at http://java.sun.com. For updated information about The Java™ Series, including errata for this book, and previews of forthcoming books, visit http://java.sun.com/Series. The JNI was designed following a series of discussions between Sun Microsystems and Java technology licensees. The JNI partly evolved from Netscape’s Java Runtime Interface (JRI), which was designed byWarren Harris. Many people