On Jan 17, 11:51 pm, Mark Allerton <mark.aller...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi all, > > I've been hacking on a bridge between Clojure and Cocoa, and have been > prompted to break cover by recent discussion of the subject of Objective-C > interfacing here on this list.
This is fantastic! In you README.md, you provide the reasons why this is better than a Java-to-Cocoa bridge. -------- Apple's Java-Cocoa bridge was a failure - and in hindsight it's not that hard to see why. Despite being an Ahead-of-Time compiled language based on C, Objective-C's runtime is in fact quite a bit more dynamic than Java's - and this left Java developers at a disadvantage, being made to write more code to work around the impedance mismatch. So why might Clojure be a better match? As a dynamic language it may be a better fit for the dynamic aspects of the Objective-C runtime. In addition, as a lisp, Clojure has few ties between programming paradigm and syntax, making it easier to adopt Objective-C's paradigms directly in Clojure code. -------- I think this is spot on. This is one reason why I have never had much interest in working with Apple's Java Cocoa bridge. The code always felt clumsy and awkward compared to the Objective-C version. I'm certain that, as you say, that the dynamic nature of Clojure is a better fit with Objective-C than Java. Indeed, this is why LispWorks has an Objective-C bridge for Cocoa, and why so many Scheme projects also have Objective-C bridges. As for "Why is this a terrible idea?": ------------ There are some other reasons Java was a bad fit for Cocoa, and Clojure doesn't fix these - namely the memory overhead of the JVM, startup time and lack of application responsiveness due to JIT compilation and garbage collection. ------------- I think the relatively long start-up time can be tolerated, especially if the programmer provides some fancy splash screen to distract the user while the rest of the application loads. The lack of responsiveness is a more difficult issue to overcome, but if prior experience with Apple's Java bridge is any guide, the mushy (rather than crisp) UI responsiveness is tolerable if not ideal. In the end, I don't think this is a "terrible idea" by any means. It provides a great entry point to Clojure integration with Cocoa, providing a pathway to building superior UIs for Clojure applications. Any lingering problems, I'm sure, can be overcome or remedied in the long-term.
-- 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
