DevRoom Proposal: OCaml-Java - OCaml on a JVM

[forum at x9c.fr]

Title: OCaml-Java - OCaml on a a JVM


Abstract:
The goal of the OCaml-Java project is to allow seamless integration of
OCaml and Java. Its compiler produces Java bytecode from OCaml
sources, and also includes an extension to the typer in order to allow
the manipulation of Java instances from OCaml programs.

The Java platform is obviously a key foundation of the project, with
both challenges and opportunities. Among challenges are the needs
to design a memory layout and a code generator producing efficient
bytecode. Among opportunities are the possibility to provide a runtime
environment for OCaml that is not hindered by a global runtime lock
(thus allowing shared-memory parallelism in OCaml), and the ability
to use all Java libraries in OCaml projects.

The talk will focus on interoperability and compiler design, with the
hope to attract new testers and users.


Recording me on audio and/or video:
fine under a CC-BY-2.0 license


Brief bio:
Xavier Clerc has been working at Inria as a research engineer since
2008, but will leave Inria in early 2015 in order to found a startup.
He develops the OCaml-Java project during its free time, and had the
opportunity to spent several months (summer 2013) in the OCaml Labs
(Cambridge University) in order to boost the project.


Project URLs:
http://www.ocamljava.org
https://github.com/xclerc/ocamljava