Notes for Friday the 13th! (oooooh)
JIL - Java In Lisp

How Java Works

Java is an object oriented programming language.
Like Lisp, Java runs within an environment called the Java Virtual Machine (or JVM).
To run a Java program requires the following steps.

• Write a Java source file.
  
• Compile the java source file. This requires using the Java compiler, javac, to convert the source file into java byte-code. For every class defined in the source-file, a <class name>.class file is created.
  
• Start the jvm, specifying a .class file to run.

Java is dynamic

<dynamic loading example here>

Instead of loading all classes that are referenced in a program, Java loads class definitions from the various .class files as they are needed. This helps Java to consume less physical memory (that actual RAM in a computer), but also allows for the dynamic loading of java classes.

When given a class name to look for, by default, Java searches what is called the CLASSPATH. This is an environment variable that lists a number of directories in which the JVM should look for .class files.

JIL

JIL, of course, stands for Java In Lisp. It is a module to allow people to write Java code, without actually having to write Java code.

Programs are written in a language called JCL (for Java Common Lisp), which is essentially the Java language in Lisp syntax.

JCL code is written into a file and compiled using the JIL function

(jcomp-file <filename>)

<current limitations of JIL>

<Possible future changes to JIL>

Follow this link for the JIL documentation.