Today, as computer technology develops rapidly, a single programming language sometimes is not enough to handle complicated, real-world implementations. Each language has its strong and weak points and it is very difficult to find one language to satisfy all applications requirements. Mixed-language programming, or interface programming between multiple languages, has emerged to meet the needs of complicated applications and implementations in scientific research, industrial controls, and manufacturing, as well as in commercial applications. Using interface programming, professional Graphic User Interfaces, flexible databases, multitask environments, and real-time controllability can be integrated to form an optimal computer system that can complete challenging applications tasks.

Via practical programming examples and hands-on technologies, the author illustrates the principles and methods of calling a process or function written in one language from within another programming environment. Step-by-step and line-by-line, the interfacing methods and techniques among different languages are clearly explained, and more importantly, the detailed source codes are provided for all examples. Most of the examples in this book have been compiled and debugged and have been successfully applied in real-world projects.

Seven popular programming language interfaces are discussed in the book. They are:

• ANSI C and Visual C++
• Visual Basic
• MATLAB
• Smalltalk
• LabView
• Java
• Perl

The audience for this book includes, but is not limited to, software engineers, programmers, scientific researchers, design engineers, system engineers, and college students. This book is highly recommended for any person who needs to make a program with optimal performance by using more than one language.

All program files, including the source code files, header files, library files, definition files, and execution files, are stored on the accompanying CD-ROM. Refer to the structure map to get a global picture of the content of this book.