We present an improved Foreign Function Interface (FFI) for R to call arbitary native functions without the need for C wrapper code. Further we discuss a dynamic linkage framework for binding standard C libraries to R across platforms using a universal type information format. The package rdyncall comprises the framework and an initial repository of cross-platform bindings for standard libraries such as (legacy and modern) OpenGL, the family of SDL libraries and Expat. The package enables system-level programming using the R language; sample applications are given in the article. We outline the underlying automation tool-chain that extracts cross-platform bindings from C headers, making the repository extendable and open for library developers.
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For attribution, please cite this work as
Adler, "The R Journal: Foreign Library Interface", The R Journal, 2012
BibTeX citation
@article{RJ-2012-004,
author = {Adler, Daniel},
title = {The R Journal: Foreign Library Interface},
journal = {The R Journal},
year = {2012},
note = {https://doi.org/10.32614/RJ-2012-004},
doi = {10.32614/RJ-2012-004},
volume = {4},
issue = {1},
issn = {2073-4859},
pages = {30-40}
}