[mlpack] GSOP - bindings

[Yasmine Dumouchel]

Hi, 

I have studied for the past year computer science at McGill University and am starting my Masters degree in Computer Science next September at the University of Montreal. I have looked at the ideas proposed for GSOC and would love to create an automatic binding for the mlpack library. Specifically, I would be interested in creating bindings for a language that runs on JVM such as Java and/or Scala. I have thought of a few possible ways to undergo this task. For instance, one could use Java Native Interface (JNI)  which enables Java code to call libraries written in C, C++, and assembly. However, it incurs considerable overhead and performance loss sometimes. To help, we could complement with SWIG tool. Alternatively, another option would be to use standard C to wrap the C++ functions, so that any objects created stays inside the native runtime and isn’t exposed to the JVM.  This would allow for a simplified and robust C interface which could then be exposed to Java/Scala using JNR. JNA, together with Bridj is also another possibility that I believe could be worth exploring and evaluating. Therefore, my question is the following: how much precise and detailed should our proposal be. And to which degree is our plan “set in stone” or how much flexibility from our proposed plan do we have if chosen to continue the project? Thank you very much!

Best regards,

Yasmine Dumouchel

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