Hyperloop compiler: Automatically generates binding code directly from scripts

[Eric Wing <ewmailing@...>]

Hi all,

I want to inform you of a compiler technology being developed that
automatically generates language bindings. It is called Hyperloop and
is being developed by Appcelerator to automatically generate the glue
code you need from writing just in JavaScript.
This is the original overview which covered the iOS version:
http://www.appcelerator.com/blog/2013/10/introducing-hyperloop/
The Windows C++/CX version just went Developer-Preview last week.

The basic idea is that you write in your scripting language, but call
native APIs. The Hyperloop compiler will parse your scripts and
automatically detect you are calling a native API (searching through a
internal "metabase" of known APIs) and generate the appropriate
C,Obj-C,C++,C++/Cx glue or support code needed to make the binding
work. I have been helping with the Android effort (getting
JavaScriptCore ported), so eventually Java bindings will also be added
to the list.

Although Appcelerator's focus is JavaScript, the project is open
source and there are good ideas and useful things here that I believe
could be extended to Lua. Being able to auto-generate the native
language bindings can be a significant reduction in work. And I think
other ideas could eventually be incorporated such as compiling
directly to native code instead of interpreter glue code (sort of like
RubyMotion or maybe slua).

Anyway, I'm hoping to peak some interest in the Lua community because
I think this would be a useful tool to incorporate. Perhaps there are
some brave souls that will take on doing a Lua generator.


The official repo is here:
https://github.com/appcelerator/hyperloop

Thanks,
Eric
-- 
Beginning iPhone Games Development
http://playcontrol.net/iphonegamebook/