A group from an opnjdk open-source Java mailing list has proposed Project Panama, a new project that would seek to integrate Java with C and similar languages. “The main benefit of this proposal is that it will open up the world of native libraries — written in C or similar languages — to Java developers without requiring them to write anything but plain Java code,” said Panama proponent Charles Nutter, who works at Red Hat. “You just specify what library to load, what function you want to access, and its parameters and return value and the API should do the rest.”
Project Panama could replace Java Native Interface (JNI) technology. “The way I read the Project Panama proposal, the team will seek a more streamlined intermediary — perhaps direct calls,” said Forrester analyst John Rymer. “We’ll have to see how this all works out.”