[gecode-users] Reusing the old Gecode/J interface

[Guido Tack]

Hello Hugh,

I would start from scratch.  Gecode/J used a much tighter coupling between Java and C++ than necessary for most users (e.g. you could implement propagators and branchers in Java, which is usually not necessary).  At the time we used SWIG to generate the interface from the C++ headers plus some custom annotations.  I wasn't particularly impressed with the quality of the generated code (IIRC I even had to patch some things manually), and there was a huge problem with the Java multi thread garbage collection.  But that was so long ago that I'd probably give it another try, especially if the interface you need is much simpler than what we had (we had to export C++ classes that you could subclass in Java, including virtual method calls etc... the result was a huge mess and not very efficient).

If you need more concrete ideas, just let me know.

Cheers,
Guido

On 21/08/2013, at 1:16 PM, Hugh Ferguson <Hugh.Ferguson at nzqa.govt.nz> wrote:

> I am evaluating various commercial and open-source CP solvers for use in a Java context. Gecode looks attractive, aside from the lack of a Java interface. It may be worth implementing a Java interface, given that we only need a small part of the API. I am aware that the Gecode/J interface was abandoned many years ago. Can anyone give me an idea of whether it would be worth using Gecode/J as a starting point, or whether it would be better to start from scratch?
>  
> Thanks
>  
>  
> Hugh Ferguson
> Senior Analyst Programmer
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> New Zealand Qualifications Authority
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