Well if you can read it on a port you can read it in a "boot" time of the 
image, no?

What *does* the image do with arguments it gets on the command line?  Would 
it
be possible to add a -s switch to give control over to some kind of script 
class
subsystem?  And I don't think the image would have to be scaled down much if 
at all.
The image isn't that big right?  And any modern OS will cache it after the 
first use
anyway.


>From: "Giovanni Giorgi" <daitangio at gmail.com>
>Reply-To: The general-purpose Squeak developers 
>list<squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org>
>To: "The general-purpose Squeak developers 
>list"<squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org>
>Subject: Re: why scripting (was: Thoughts from an outsider)
>Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 16:56:00 +0200
>
>And there are plenty ways of doing scripting in squeak.
>For instance the simpler way is to fire up a Squeak server and send it
>the content of a text file (network cat o nc can be used to do it in a
>snap) on a pre-defined port.
>This is totally unsafe, but pretty fast to do.
>My 5 cents (yes I am coming richer!)
>
>
>On 30 Aug 2006 14:10:53 +0200, Lex Spoon <lex at cc.gatech.edu> wrote:
>>"J J" <azreal1977 at hotmail.com> writes:
>> > Scripting.  Do we need it?  Well Java doesn't have it.  C++ doesn't
>> > have it. And those are the two most popular languages afaik.  But both
>[...]
>>
>>For bigger programs, clearly yes.  For small programs, though, it can
>>be much more convenient to use a script file.  A file-sized chunk of
>>code is an excellent unit of code exchange.  Good tools make this unit
>>of code exchange nice to work with.
>>
>>There are a lot of things that a script-running program can make
>>easier.  For example:
>>
>>
>>1. Compilation/Loading.  You do not have to deal with when to run the
>>compiler and/or load the code into the running system.  The script
>>runner does whatever is needed to make your code run.
>>
>>2. Dependencies.  If your program needs external libraries, at worst
>>you put a declaration at the top of your file.
>>
>>3. Integration with other tools.  Any tool that can work with text
>>files can work with script files.  CVS, SVN, and pretty much any
>>decent version control system has a convenient way to handle text
>>files.  You can even embed script files into programs in other
>>languages.  Try these things with an image -- it's possible but takes
>>some work.
>>
>>
>>
>>-Lex
>>
>>
>>PS -- If your operating system is Squeak, then yes you can just "do
>>it" to run your code.  But for the sake of argument, let's suppose
>>that you are using some backwards non-Squeak operating system that
>>does not use Smalltalk for its system language.
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>--
>Software Architect
>http://www.objectsroot.com/
>Software is nothing
>