Squeak's role in a larger world?
John Tobler
squeakie at visto.com
Fri Oct 1 16:52:54 UTC 1999
Recently, I've seen quite a few posts about putting Java
support into Squeak or running Squeak via a Java VM. While
discussing the particular case of interaction with Java,
perhaps we should contemplate a larger question:
"To what degree should Squeak be
embeddable and extendable?"
We may want to consider various interactions with other
languages (e.g. Self, Python, Perl, Tcl-Tk, Rebol, Eiffel,
C/C++, etc.). In Python, for example, embeddability and
extendability are core concepts in the language design and
Python gains considerable power from these mechanisms.
Squeak is already extendable, via C/C++. Should it be
extendable by other compiled languages? What would this
involve? Could Squeak be extended via other interpreted
languages? What support would be needed in the class
libraries to make Squeak's existing extendability more
general?
AFAIK, Squeak is not yet embeddable. For what applications
might embeddability be desirable? Can a Sqeuak image be
somehow packaged as a component? What would be needed to
make Squeak available to another language system?
I am curious about these questions, in particular, because
many very serious programmers are now using scripting
languages as glue to bind widely disparate technologies
into united solutions to user needs. This trend towards
scripting and interacting language systems seems very
strong, today, and I'm wondering to what degree Squeak will
be able to fit into a scripting-based picture of the future.
Ultimately, the question is whether Squeak should be
isolationist, standing apart as a completely unique and
self-sufficient environment, or cooperative, taking its
place in a community of interacting languages.
Just musing,
/John Tobler
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