[sqvm] squeak vm startup (interpreter?)

Dan Ingalls DanI at wdi.disney.com
Tue Nov 10 19:31:42 UTC 1998


Jason -

>I am trying to poke about in the VM; specifically, I'm trying to learn how the
>interpreter loads in image and starts running. Any pointers (or high-level
>roadmaps) would be appreciated. Thanks!

I suggest that you start by running the simulator, which I did only 
two days ago, so I know it works (at least on the Mac, but I believe 
it will on Windows as well).  The thing actually cruises along at 
30000 bytecodes per second.

I find it nice to work with the Mini.image on the UIUC server.  Being 
so small it is relatively quick to load, and it also does not need to 
find the sources file.  If you try to run your own image, be prepared 
for a lot of time (and space) spent loading, uncompressing fonts, 
painting windows, etc.

Assuming you have that image (and changes) in your directory, then 
execute the following statement:

	(InterpreterSimulator new openOn: 'mini.image') test

In about 4 seconds (on a fast machine) you should see bits on the 
screen.  If you want to watch everything happen then you can do
	(InterpreterSimulator new openOn: 'mini.image') inspect
and then execute various peices of the test method, and look what 
changes.  There are a bunch of methods in the simulator for letting 
you print values and structures in the image.

Have fun
	- Dan

P.S.  I'm including one method def that is needed for the simulator 
to run these days.

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