[Mono-list] NET using Java VMs and libs

[Benoit Cerrina]

> This is untrue.
>
> Any language can be targeted to the Java JVM bytecode, just as they can be
> compiled to the .NET CLR. There's something like 30 languages that you can
> use with the Java platform at the moment, I think JPython is the most
> prominent.
>
As someone who is actually working on such a thing (jruby, see
jruby.sourceforge.net)
I can tell you that it CAN be done but it is hard and inefficient for a
whole class
of languages which unfortunately include ruby.
The same remark applies to the CLR but to a lesser extent, there are some
provisions
in the CLR made for dynamic languages which do not exist in the JVM.
One should try to read through the FUD from both the MS and the JAVA camp,
the CLR is
not as great as MS would like us to think it is for any languages, it does
have a lot
of optimisation made for statically typed languages, BUT, it tries a lot
harder and
makes it a lot easier to implement dynamic languages.
Benoit