Trying to merge java.lang.Float, java.lang.Double with Classpath -- help wanted

[Bryce McKinlay]

On Monday, Sep 22, 2003, at 10:23 Pacific/Auckland, Mark Wielaard wrote:

> This new design is a clear demonstration how to use the GNU Classpath 
> VM
> interface which demonstrates an effective way of giving different VMs
> the possibility to implement VM specific parts in different ways (e.g.
> JNI, CNI, Java, ...). Since the added classes are final and package
> private they should be easy be optimized away by the VM/Compiler.

Yes, and eventually GCJ will be able to do this. However it still comes 
at a cost of extra space for all the extra methods and classes 
(significant if someone wants to construct a very minimal, J2ME-type 
runtime), and adds maintenance burden by making the code more layered & 
complex. I think the VMxxx design is a good one for many situations - 
but not here. Classpath would be better off providing a default 
java/JNI implementation of Float/Double and allow VM developers to 
implement optimized versions themselves if desired. I suspect most VMs 
will not want/need to do this though - is there anything thats actually 
VM-specific about Float/Double?

Regards

Bryce.