Matlab-like Scripting for the Java Platform with the jLab environment

摘要

The jLab environment extends the potential of Java for scientific computing. It provides a Matlab/Scilab like scripting language that is executed by an interpreter implemented in the Java language. The jLab environment combines effectively Groovy like compiled scripting with the interpreted jScript one. A special purpose modification of the Groovy language, called GroovySci is developed for effective compiled scripting. The paper concentrates on the topic of using the jLab scripting engine from within a pure Java application, in order to allow the application to utilize the scientific scripting potential of jLab and its large scientific libraries. The implementation is inspired by the JSR 223 standard but it is much simpler. The same methodology for script invocation can also be used within the Groovy effective compiled scripting framework. We describe the basics of the Groovy scripting environment. To our knowledge, this is the first full Matlab like scientific scripting for Java. The jLab environment is open source and can be downloaded from https://jlab.dev.java.net.