[development] Bridging PHP to Java or C++?

[Mark Fredrickson]

to PHP (and specifically to Drupal)?
> 
> Writng a PHP extension is probably easier in C. Insofar, I have not seen
> any Java extension.
> 
http://php-java-bridge.sourceforge.net/

And there is also a deprecated ext/java extension for PHP <= 4.3

These also have the advantage of _already_ being a PHP extension to use
existing Java bytecode. Instead of a necessitating me to write an extension,
I can just glue the bridge to the Weka toolkit in PHP.

> and you make Java mandatory on the server. That's not a good idea.
> 
What is more likely: a hosting service providing a JVM or providing a C/C++
compiler? 

For what it is worth, my host (NearlyFreeSpeech.Net) has gcc but not javac
(or at least I couldn't find it in 5 minutes of looking - I haven't asked
tech support yet). I don't know if this typical.

> Very few if any module require any PHP extension which is not in the PHP
> core. Some reuqire a few scripts that are in PEAR like simpletest, but
> that's rare. But scripts are not extensions.
> 

Well, until someone codes a ML library in PHP I do not see much of an
option. Given the choice between producing a working (though difficult to
install) module or spending a lot of effort on re-inventing the wheel, I'll
choose the former.

:-)

-M