Newbie questions

[Maury Markowitz]

Hi,

  I'm an Obj-C developer (using gcc) over on the OS-X platform and  
I'm looking for migration and exit strategies for both myself and  
other developers in our market space.  Apple's "commitment" to Obj-C  
is, well, let's call it "unclear".  I'm both a compiler tech and Java  
newbie, so I'll ask for your forgiveness in advance if some of these  
questions are complete no-brainers.

  First and foremost I'm curious about the ability for gcj's  
compiled code to be used as libraries for Obj-C code on top.  IE, if  
I were to use gcj and it's associated libs, what sort of work effort  
would it be to have them work as Obj-C libraries?  Is library format  
an issue at all? (I'm assuming not, but I'll ask to be sure) Is the  
main issue going to be supplying a selection of wrappers in the form  
of .h files?  It "feels" like there is a runtime changed needed to  
Obj-C, and I'm curious if anyone could comment on the level of change  
needed, if any?

  The other question I have relates to extensions and the legality  
thereof.  We Obj-C developers have come to love the language's  
flexibility in terms of "weak" typing and notably in the form of  
categorization.  It seems to me that if you're going to  
native-compile code anyway, extensions like this to Java would no  
longer break it's security orientation.  Would it be possible to  
create a sub-standard, say "Obj-J", that would add in these features  
without ending up on someone's (like Sun's) *&%# list?

  This isn't quite as important to me, if I could use Obj-C over  
gcj's libs this may be a non-issue anyway.  I ask simply because  
there may be uses who wish to stay completely in the Java syntax (for  
good reasons) but sill have access to some of the power of  
categorization, proxies, etc.

  BTW, kudos to all involved in this project.  This is exactly the  
sort of practical response to the Java hype that I think the market  
needs.  I'm still experimenting, but I think gcj's potential for  
mixing my compiled code against bytecode and compiled libs may be  
just the solution I'm (and I think many others) are looking for.

Maury