Java API is non-standard

[jec@…]

The Java API generated by the SWIG toolkit does not conform to the standards and conventions used in Java programming. The SWIG java configuration should be changed to do the following

1. method calls should being with lowercase letters

2. methods should not call unchecked exceptions. Easiest thing to do would be for exceptions to extend RuntimeException instead of Exception

3. collection classes should implement collection interface from java.util

4. javadoc comments with API docs embedded into the source files. Source files distributed with installation so that developers using IDEs can leverage full power of IDE

Note that I don't think that this can be done and still maintain backward compatibility with existing API.

[robertbray]

If possible we should look at changing the code to generate both the new "enhanced" and old "crufty" Java wrappers. That would provide a resolution to the compatibility issues created by changing the API.