Call Perl package generic static method in Perl package app

This article provides an introduction to cross-technology invocation of static generic methods. Generic methods in C# (.NET) and Java technologies are methods that are declared with the type parameter in its signature, allowing it to be used with any data type. It is described in detail in article about generic methods in .NET and article about generic methods in Java.

Javonet allows you to reference and use modules or packages written in (Java/Kotlin/Groovy/Clojure, C#/VB.NET, Ruby, Perl, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript) like they were created in your technology. If have not yet created your first project check Javonet overview and quick start guides for your technology.

With Javonet you can interact with generic static methods from Perl package like they were available in C++ but invocation must be performed through Javonet SDK API.

Javonet allows you to pass any C++ value type as argument to method from Perl package. For reference type arguments (instances of other classes) you can create such instance with Javonet and pass the Invocation Context variable referencing that object as argument of method invocation.

Custom Perl package with generic static methods

With Javonet it is possible to reference any custom Perl package and interact with its methods declared on types defined within that module almost the same as with any other C++ library.

Snippet below represents the sample code from Perl package which contains generic methods.

It is possible to invoke the methods from Perl package using following C++ code:

This snippet uses in memory runtime bridging to load the Perl package and next retrieves reference to specific type.
Next, generic static method is invoked.
While calling .NET generic method it is necessary to pass method name, type and arguments.
While calling Java generic method it is necessary to pass method name and arguments.

The same operation can be performed remotely by just changing the new Runtime Context invocation from in memory to tcp that will create and interact with your Perl package objects on any remote node, container or service that hosts Javonet Code Gateway. This way you can preserve the same logic in your application and instantly switch between monolithic and microservices architecture without the need to implement the integration layer based on web services or other remote invocation methods.

Read more about use cases and software architecture scenarios where Javonet runtime bridging technology can support your development process.