Language binding

<h2 id="characteristics">Characteristics</h2>
<p>Binding generally refers to a mapping of one thing to another. In the context of <a href="/facts/Library_(computing)/xRzL3P7q">software libraries</a>, bindings are <a href="/facts/Wrapper_library/b61otW6r">wrapper libraries</a> that bridge two <a href="/facts/Programming_language/cWTYbgWa">programming languages</a>, so that a <a href="/facts/Library_(computing)/xRzL3P7q">library</a> written for one language can be used in another language.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a>  Many software libraries are written in <a href="/facts/System_programming_language/KogoSQVR">system programming languages</a> such as <a href="/facts/C_(programming_language)/Ky2No763">C</a> or <a href="/facts/C%252B%252B/Et0F2qn9">C++</a>. To use such libraries from another language, usually of <a href="/facts/High-level_programming_language/smjECUhx">higher-level</a>, such as <a href="/facts/Java_(programming_language)/9ScgFyAL">Java</a>, <a href="/facts/Common_Lisp/mq1pRbSF">Common Lisp</a>, <a href="/facts/Scheme_(programming_language)/0aGdf3SC">Scheme</a>, <a href="/facts/Python_(programming_language)/YbuGqofa">Python</a>, or <a href="/facts/Lua_(programming_language)/xkBCgta0">Lua</a>, a binding to the library must be created in that language, possibly requiring <a href="/facts/Compiler/WNfCDFJe">recompiling</a> the language's code, depending on the amount of modification needed.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> However, most languages offer a <a href="/facts/Foreign_function_interface/ntAxkhK0">foreign function interface</a>, such as Python's and <a href="/facts/OCaml/ThBGLND8">OCaml</a>'s ctypes, and <a href="/facts/Embeddable_Common_Lisp/H8kwrNjY">Embeddable Common Lisp</a>'s cffi and uffi.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a>
</p><p>For example, <a href="/facts/Python_(programming_language)/YbuGqofa">Python</a> bindings are used when an extant C library, written for some purpose, is to be used from Python. Another example is libsvn which is written in C to provide an API to access the <a href="/facts/Apache_Subversion/b5j9wAbt">Subversion</a> <a href="/facts/Software_repository/TlX4RM8Y">software repository</a>. To access Subversion from within Java code, libsvnjavahl can be used, which depends on libsvn being installed and acts as a bridge between the language Java and libsvn, thus providing an API that invokes functions from libsvn to do the work.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a>
</p><p>Major motives to create library bindings include <a href="/facts/Software_reuse/DVohfy6U">software reuse</a>, to reduce reimplementing a library in several languages, and the difficulty of implementing some <a href="/facts/Algorithm/fnl5NmRt">algorithms</a> efficiently in some high-level languages.
</p>
<h2 id="runtime-environment">Runtime environment</h2>

<h3>Object models</h3>
<p class="note">Further information: <a href="/facts/Object_model/sAjjBb7V">Object model</a></p>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Common_Object_Request_Broker_Architecture/VUDlTHs5">Common Object Request Broker Architecture</a> (CORBA) – <a href="/facts/Cross-platform/16zqdvNR">cross-platform</a>-language model</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Component_Object_Model/2DtIAufW">Component Object Model</a> (COM) – <a href="/facts/Microsoft_Windows/bwhAhuSL">Microsoft Windows</a> only cross-language model
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Distributed_Component_Object_Model/mpDM1JXX">Distributed Component Object Model</a> (DCOM) – extension enabling COM to work over networks</li>
<li>Cross Platform Component Object Model (<a href="/facts/XPCOM/42dTP1Xc">XPCOM</a>) – Mozilla applications <a href="/facts/Cross-platform/16zqdvNR">cross-platform</a> model</li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Common_Language_Infrastructure/mu44u01J">Common Language Infrastructure</a> – <a href="/facts/.NET_Framework/J6QDAUhP">.NET Framework</a> <a href="/facts/Cross-platform/16zqdvNR">cross-platform</a>-language model</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Freedesktop.org/qGlctGYA">Freedesktop.org</a> <a href="/facts/D-Bus/gpzM6fjI">D-Bus</a> – open <a href="/facts/Cross-platform/16zqdvNR">cross-platform</a>-language model</li></ul>

<h3>Virtual machines</h3>
<p class="note">Further information: <a href="/facts/Virtual_machine/BLevU3sx">Virtual machine</a></p>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Comparison_of_application_virtual_machines/P82vGmuz">Comparison of application virtual machines</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="porting">Porting</h2>
<p class="note">Further information: <a href="/facts/Porting/7s6tFs8B">Porting</a></p>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Portable_object_(computing)/UpprGXk2">Portable object</a> – <a href="/facts/Cross-platform/16zqdvNR">cross-platform</a>-language object model definition</li></ul>

<ul>
<li>Computer programming portal</li></ul>

<ul><li><a href="/facts/Application_programming_interface/GMlN4vUr">Application programming interface</a> (API)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Application_binary_interface/wc6pmKKb">Application binary interface</a> (ABI)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Calling_convention/FtzN2BKj">Calling convention</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Embedded_SQL/IVcX74w3">Embedded SQL</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Name_mangling/br0AH0zP">Name mangling</a></li>
<li>Simplified Wrapper and Interface Generator (<a href="/facts/SWIG/A8Q6IxLt">SWIG</a>) – interface binding generator from many languages to many languages, open-source</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Wrapper_function/nyy4XUdb">Wrapper function</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.open-std.org/JTC1/SC22/WG11/">JTC1/SC22/WG11 - Binding Techniques</a>, an ISO standard for language bindings</li>
<li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25865/what-is-a-language-binding">What is a language binding?</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"Appendix A. Creating a language binding for cairo". Cairographics.org. Retrieved 2014-04-02. <a href="http://www.cairographics.org/manual/language-bindings.html" target="_blank">http://www.cairographics.org/manual/language-bindings.html</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>"Standards, APIs, Interfaces and Bindings". Acm.org. Archived from the original on 2015-01-16. Retrieved 2014-04-02. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150116081559/http://www.acm.org/tsc/apis.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20150116081559/http://www.acm.org/tsc/apis.html</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"ctypes – A foreign function library for Python". Python v3.8.3 documentation. Docs.python.org. Retrieved 2020-06-04. <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/ctypes.html" target="_blank">https://docs.python.org/3/library/ctypes.html</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>Hickey, Jason; Madhavapeddy, Anil; Minsky, Yaron (2013). "Real Worl OCaml, Chapter 19. Foreign Function Interface". realworldocaml.org. Retrieved 2015-07-19. <a href="https://realworldocaml.org/v1/en/html/foreign-function-interface.html" target="_blank">https://realworldocaml.org/v1/en/html/foreign-function-interface.html</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>"Introduction – CFFI User Manual". Common-lisp.net. Retrieved 2014-04-02. <a href="http://common-lisp.net/project/cffi/manual/html_node/Introduction.html#Introduction" target="_blank">http://common-lisp.net/project/cffi/manual/html_node/Introduction.html#Introduction</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>"Subversion JavaHL FAQ". Subclipse.tigris.org. 2013-06-18. Retrieved 2014-04-02. <a href="http://subclipse.tigris.org/wiki/JavaHL" target="_blank">http://subclipse.tigris.org/wiki/JavaHL</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Language binding open-in-new

Language binding