Native function artifacts

Toolkits can contain C++ native functions and Java native functions. Artifacts of native functions are in the native.function directory.

C++ native functions are created within a toolkit by using function.xml files that are in the native.function directory. The files include the declarations of functions and their dependencies.

Java native functions are created by using annotations in the Java source code, in which case the corresponding native.function directories and javaFunction.xml files are automatically generated when the toolkit is built.

Locate the native.function directory under a namespace directory, similar to the primitive and composite operators. For instance, if a developer wants to place functions under the spl.helper namespace, a possible directory that might contain native.function is spl/helper.