Posting Java advocacy was fairly off-topic, in my opinion. Java is not a practical solution for connecting a C database library to a Scheme implementation. Your post told me nothing about the usual C data types for UTF-16. You also failed to trim the quoted post.
I realised that I'd read your original post wrongly the first time. I thought you were looking for an alternative to Scheme to solve your problem on first read so my post was not intentionally offtopic.
I had a horrible time trying to work with a system running on top of the Blackdown Java a few years ago. I have the scars. Now, I don't think you knew that, so I don't hold it against you. I'm pretty sure Brett knew, so maybe he was being over-protective of me? I think he has his own Java bad experiences too.
Fair enough, I've had bad experiences with Perl. Horses for courses...
He's a nice guy, but he does stomp in with heavy boots sometimes.
He's immature, but I'm sure he'll grow out of it. His posts remind me of the infamous Jamie Baillie (Google for him if you're unaware). Plus I can never resist a good troll baiting ;-)
Matt