GCJ, the java compiler
 

hi,
can i use gcj instead of java compilers from http://java.sun.com version 1.5.
please provide me with more info as you can

As far as I know, gcj does not fully support Java 1.5. It also has little to no support for AWT and Swing classes. Check the FAQ for more info:

http://gcc.gnu.org/java/faq.html#2_4

it pretty much depends what you want to do. For my current needs, gcj is a toy...

Many apps don't work properly with gcj. I have nothing but grief when trying to use gcj with the likes of LimeWire and Azureus.

Yeah, ditto. The GCJ will compile to native, but you cannot use much of the GUI aspects of Java. The exception is, you may use SWT, which relies on native GUI libraries on the system it will be used on.

I don't think I would want to use it for serious projects yet, it seems a little chaotic.

Mr elyk1212: what is SWT ?
and thanx Alllllllll.

SWT: The Standard Widget Toolkit

http://www.eclipse.org/swt/

Oh, yes sorry, I did not have a chance to respond yesterday. Ditto to what Mega Man X said. Also, please check out JFace, I think it may tie together with SWT, but I am uncertain as to the specifics.

Is there are a reason not to use the JDK? I know its not exactly open source, but its free and works.

To avoid any troubles use sun jdk, ibm jdk or blackdown jdk. Other projects are far from complete so you can expect anything...

gcj hello.java --main=hello

would produce a native elf file that does whatever is in the applications, i think it converts java to c .

gcj -C hello.java

thats creates a class file that can be used with as java hello

doing simply gcj hello.java
will not work, as gcj does not know where the main is

anyway there are other things if u look at man gcj

it compiles a lot faster than javac

thanx all,
mr : boredandblogging ; it is free for developement use only, right??

I don't think so, I think it just uses the internal code representation used within GCC which more or less language independent. Gcj is just a frontend to gcc that checks java code and transforms it to this intermediary representation. A backend is then chosen (e.g. java bytecode, native i386,...) to compile this representation to binary.

I am not sure about the above, but this is a widely used way to write a compiler ;).

no, its free to use in a commercial environment too.

Correct, the Java JDK has been freely dowloadable an free to use in both development and production since its first release, more than ten years ago.

Not only Java, but almost all software available to end-users from Sun Microsystems is downloadable and usable for free, even for production use.

This includes development tools (C, C++, Java), O/S (Solaris), (web, directory, messaging, calendar, application, instant messaging, portal, ...) servers, StarOffice (Solaris version), and more.

i am not entirely sure what you mean by internal code representation used within GCC, could you explain?