Native methods

The native keyword is applied to a method to indicate that the method is implemented in native code using JNI(Java Native Interface). It marks a method, that it will be implemented in other languages, not in Java. It works together with JNI (Java Native Interface).

Main.java:
public class Main {
    public native int intMethod(int i);
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.loadLibrary("Main");
        System.out.println(new Main().intMethod(2));
    }
}

Main.c:
#include <jni.h>
#include "Main.h"

JNIEXPORT jint JNICALL Java_Main_intMethod(
    JNIEnv *env, jobject obj, jint i) {
  return i * i;
}

Compile and run:
javac Main.java
javah -jni Main
gcc -shared -fpic -o libMain.so -I${JAVA_HOME}/include \
  -I${JAVA_HOME}/include/linux Main.c
java -Djava.library.path=. Main

Output:

4