I am seriously considering a project that will require high performance
handling of large, sparse, bit maps.  It seems to me that the best way to
implement that kind of processing within Squeak is to use the Smalltalk-to-C
translator to add a few new primitives.  I have not yet jumped in to reading
the VM code, but I have a few questions.

1.  What is the best programming platform for this kind of work.  I can work
under Lynux, PC, or Mac.  I am more familiar with the Unix and Mac
environments.  What tools would I need?

2.  What is the best way to get started?  Is it reasonably easy to add a new
primitive?

3.  Once I have completed my changes (well, somewhere down the road) what
would be the best way to make sure they are portable?  How can I make sure
that the changes can be integrated into future Squeak versions?

4.  Is there some kind of hook to allow external DLLs? Is there some other
way to make the new primitives available to other Squeak users?

Thanks much for everyone's help!

Jonathan