Smalltalk/JVM Questions and Answers

Alejandro F. Reimondo aleReimondo at smalltalking.net
Wed Apr 6 06:17:21 UTC 2005


Hi Jason,
Thank you very much for the efforts you are putting in this direction!
It is really important the existence of a Smalltalk running over JavaVM.

Q: Do you have #allInstances and #become:  for Smalltalk (and Java) objects?
Q: Is it possible to add a method to a class while running in St/JVM ?
Q: Is it possible to attach methods to an object? (refinement of behavior in
an instance)
Q: where can I find more detailed information on St/JVM? (deep technical
     information for smalltalkers or download)

best,
Ale.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jason Jones" <jsj at ksc.com>
To: <squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org>
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 10:52 PM
Subject: Smalltalk/JVM Questions and Answers


> All,
>
> We received many emails concerning open sourcing St/JVM.  Below you will
> find answers to some of the more common questions we received.
>
> Jason Jones
> jsj at ksc.com
> ----------------------------------
>
> Q: Which dialect of Smalltalk would it support? VisualAge? VisualWorks?
>
> A: Syntactically it is somewhere between VA, VW and Squeak.  It supports
> some syntax that is unique to each of these.
>
> Q: Is the point of open-sourcing the project so that the Smalltalk
community
> would provide the code for each dialect to be compatible with Mission's
> compiler?
>
> A: That the Smalltalk and Java Communities would improve, integrate and
> extend the existing code base
>
> Q: Do we get unboxed floats in Smalltalk/JVM?
>
> A: Not currently, but you can call Java code that uses unboxed floats.
> Smalltalk/JVM floats are real objects that actually understand math :-)
>
> Q: One question though: what class libraries will be available other than
> the standard Smalltalk ones?
>
> A: The current library is limited
>
> Q: I was wondering if you have a demo or trial version of your Smalltalk
to
> Java JVM product?
>
> A: Yes we will make the demo available first
>
> Q: Sounds interesting, I'd like to know more about how the development
> environment calls the java code during development.
>
> A: Natively, no additional overhead for message sends
>
> Q: Does Smalltalk/JVM allow you to convert Smalltalk code into Java code?
>
> A: No, the purpose of Smalltalk/JVM is to promote the use of Smalltalk,
not
> provide code migration.
>
> Q: My main interest now would be related to how this project would enable
> Smalltalk to access Java classes and frameworks.
>
> A: Native access to Java code
>
> Q: In order to make it accessible you would need to release it with a
> license such as Eclipse or Apache otherwise it won't get much attention.
>
> A: We appreciate the suggestion; we will look at the Eclipse/Apache/LGPL
> model
>
> Q: Any chance this will work in J2ME?
>
> A: It produces 100% JVM compatible class files, so it should work.  We
would
> appreciate feedback if it does not.
>
> Q: Why run Smalltalk on Java instead of running Java in the Smalltalk
> environment.
>
> A: There is a JVM on almost every computer (mostly free).  Eliminates
single
> VM supplier problem.  Leverages huge investment in the Java environment
>
> Q: Why not create an Eclipse plug-in for Smalltalk/JVM?
>
> A: That would be a great idea
>
>
>
> Jason Jones
> Knowledge Systems Corporation
> Smalltalk Industry Council
> 919.789.8549 x.21
> www.ksc.com
> www.stic.org
> www.smalltalksolutions.com
>
>


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