Smalltalk scripting (was Re: jpython anyone?)

Aaron J Reichow reic0024 at d.umn.edu
Sat Nov 25 17:45:58 UTC 2000


On Sat, 25 Nov 2000, Stephane Ducasse wrote:

> It may be worth to look at SmallScript the new Smalltalk 
> developed by Dave Simmons. 
> Dave really wants to have a Smalltalk scripting language.

I too would really like to have a Smalltalk scripting language.  However,
I think this is quite possible without changing the language and tied to
Windows, as Dave Simmons has done with Smallscript.  I think all we need
for a Smalltalk scripting system can be done with Squeak (on good days,
even GNU Smalltalk, with a lot of work).  

What I've proposed here before is a Smalltalk server and a C client that
does little more than pass the contents of the script and arguments to the
server and manage the returned info (exit value, as well a stdout
stream).  I've been very busy lately, but a very, very crude prototype
(using Python as the client) was done in a few lines.  As I've developing
this on Mac OS X and Linux, I'm still in search of a security model.
Someone suggested on c.l.s starting an image per user on login as opposed
to one image running as root or nobody changing user on a per request
basis.

As for making this more appealing for those who cling to the somewhat more
traditional syntax of Perl and Python, I've not given it a thought, but
the replies we've seen in this thread sound very promising for allowing
for a user to choose her syntax to be that of Python, rather than
Smalltalk's.

Aaron Reichow                   :: "In essence, Smalltalk is a programming
Twin Ports ACM Vice President   ::  language focused on human beings rather
http://www.d.umn.edu/~reic0024/ ::  than the computer." - Alan Knight





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