other.md

description
Other constructs

Native code

To make it possible to interact with the operating system and/or the underlying runtime Bengal comes with a class that makes it possible for you to use. The capabilities of that class are limited to what the underlying operating system and/or runtime supports so this class is the only non-portable part of Bengal.

Java integration

The Java integration is delivered through theJava class. To interact with Java you would see something like the code snippet below:

  String myString = "My String";
  Java java = new Java();
  java.callStaticMethod("java.lang.System.out.println", myString)

The code above calls the callStaticMethod method which asks to call thejava.lang.System.out.println static Java method and it passes myString. Note that the implementation of the Bengal runtime converts it from the Bengal class to the corresponding Java class. The following table illustrates what conversion is done.

Bengal Class	Java Class
String	java.lang.String

Posix integration

The Posix integration is delvered through the Posix class. To interact with a Posix compatible OS you would see something like the code snippet below:

  String myString = "My String";
  Posix posix = new Posix();
  posix.call("mylib.so", "myfunction", myString);

The code above calls the call method which asks to use the mylib.so library to call the myfunction function and it passes myString. Note that the implementation of the Bengal runtime converts it from the Bengal class to the corresponding Posix equivalent. The following table illustrates what conversion is done.

Bengal Class	Posix equivalent
String	char*

Default classes

As the primitive types in Bengal are actually classes you will have at minimum the following classes available in any Bengal runtime.

1. Boolean
2. String
3. Integer
4. Character
5. Float
6. Nil
7. Java (when the underlying runtime is Java)
8. Posix