How feasible is it to convert a Java to JavaScript project?

Question

I have a project I maintain in Java that runs primarily as an applet. I am finding that Applets are simply unpractical and dangerous for browser games as most end-users ignorantly trust any applet because it runs in the browser (this is also what gives applets such a terrible reputation.)

I want to compile my Java project to JavaScript and use HTML5 for rendering. There are a couple problems I can see with this though...

• Would it be feasible to translate Java reflection to JavaScript? I use Java's ScriptEngine module to run scripts in the engine.

• How scalable is this idea of compiling to JavaScript. I have several pure Java dependencies that would also need to be compile to javascript (Specifically an Vorbis Audio SPI.) The code-base compiles to ~300kb (not sure if that helps gauge the size)

• What are some other likely restrictions to encounter with this process?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Hmm.. GWT compiles java to JavaScript you can use it.

Another possibility would be using Rhino

Or just expose REST services and create an HTML5 web application using it.

Edit: BTW search in the forum. I found some questions like this one.

Answer 2

I found this tool called PlayN which may be what you're looking for. I've never used it before, but it looks promising. Of course, it may require rewriting your Java source to use their API, which means, as others have said, you're probably best off just manually porting to JavaScript.