1 6746458: writing libraries in Java for non-Java languages requires support for exotic identifiers

        2 Summary: token syntax (currently non-standard) for introducing exotic identifiers

        3 

        4 javac needs to support library development for non-Java langauges

        5 

        6 http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6746458

        7 

        8 Features:

        9 - hash mark followed immediately by string literal creates an identifier of the given spelling

       10 - no other processing or interpretation is given to the identifier

       11 - #"foo" is indistinguishable from foo, if foo is a normal, non-keyword identifier

       12 - rejects exotic identifiers which may run into JVM limitations

       13 - rejects empty string and any string with one of "/.;<>["

       14 - user must mangle invalid symbols; see http://blogs.sun.com/jrose/entry/symbolic_freedom_in_the_vm

       15 

       16 Examples from the unit test:

       17     class #"*86" {

       18         String #"555-1212"() { return "[*86.555-1212]"; }

       19     }

       20     class #"int" extends Number {

       21         final int #"int";

       22         #"int"(int #"int") {

       23             this.#"int" = #"int";

       24         }

       25         static #"int" valueOf(int #"int") {

       26             return new #"int"(#"int");

       27         }

       28         public int intValue() { return #"int"; }

       29         public long longValue() { return #"int"; }

       30         public float floatValue() { return #"int"; }

       31         public double doubleValue() { return #"int"; }

       32         public String toString() { return String.valueOf(#"int"); }

       33     }

       34 

       35 Authors:

       36 - John Rose (Sun)

       37 

       38 Tests:

       39 - unit tests test/tools/javac/quid/*

       40 

       41 Incremental testing:

       42 This does not require a full JDK build.

       43 

       44 $ cd .../langtools

       45 $ hg qpush quid.patch

       46 $ (cd make; make)

       47 $ ./dist/bootstrap/bin/javac -d dist test/tools/javac/quid/QuotedIdent.java

       48 $ java -version  # should print 1.6 or later

       49 $ java -cp dist quid.QuotedIdent  # should print OK

       50 $ ./dist/bootstrap/bin/javac -d dist -cp dist test/tools/javac/quid/QuotedIdent2.java

       51 $ java -cp dist quid.QuotedIdent2  # should print OK