From: Bill Stewart <stewarts@ix.netcom.com>

Does Java have a run-time way to do #if_exists library_X foo = library_X.method_a(bar, baz) #else foo = library_Y.method_a(bar, baz) #endif or equivalent? This would let you distribute a slow pure-java library that's compatible to a native-mode library and use whichever you need.

Bill is referring to an announcement I made elsewhere about a bignum package I am working on in Java. Take a look at <URL: http://www.portal.com/~hfinney/bignum/bigarithtest.html> to play with a little interactive "calculator" I made with it. You need a Java enabled browser to use it. I think Bill's idea is a good one but I will discuss it further on coderpunks since it gets into some technical aspects of Java that may not be of general interest. Hal