Automated Python to Java translation

Question

Is there a tool out there that can automatically convert Python to Java? Can Jython do this?

Answer 1

to clarify your question:

From Python Source code to Java source code? (I don't think so)

.. or from Python source code to Java Bytecode? (Jython does this under the hood)

Answer 2

It may not be an easy problem. Determining how to map classes defined in Python into types in Java will be a big challange because of differences in each of type binding time. (duck typing vs. compile time binding).

Answer 3

Actually, here's the reverse direction:

http://blog.melhase.net/articles/2007/02/15/automated-translation-of-java-to-python

Answer 4

Actually, this may or may not be much help but you could write a script which created a Java class for each Python class, including method stubs, placing the Python implementation of the method inside the Javadoc

In fact, this is probably pretty easy to knock up in Python.

I worked for a company which undertook a port to Java of a huge Smalltalk (similar-ish to Python) system and this is exactly what they did. Filling in the methods was manual but invaluable, because it got you to really think about what was going on. I doubt that a brute-force method would result in nice code.

Here's another possibility: can you convert your Python to Jython more easily? Jython is just Python for the JVM. It may be possible to use a Java decompiler (e.g. JAD) to then convert the bytecode back into Java code (or you may just wish to run on a JVM). I'm not sure about this however, perhaps someone else would have a better idea.

Answer 5

Yes Jython does this, but it may or may not be what you want