Statistics, Department of
The R Journal
Date of this Version
6-2012
Document Type
Article
Citation
The R Journal (June 2012) 4(1)
Abstract
We present an improved Foreign Function Interface (FFI) for R to call arbitary native functions without the need for C wrapper code. Further we discuss a dynamic linkage framework for binding standard C libraries to R across platforms using a universal type information format. The package rdyncall comprises the framework and an initial repository of cross platform bindings for standard libraries such as (legacy and modern) OpenGL, the family of SDL libraries and Expat. The package enables system level programming using the R language; sample applications are given in the article. We out line the underlying automation tool-chain that extracts cross-platform bindings from C headers, making the repository extendable and open for library developers.
Included in
Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing Commons, Programming Languages and Compilers Commons
Comments
Copyright 2012, The R Foundation. Open access material. License: CC BY 3.0 Unported