At Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:31:26 -0500, Ralph Johnson wrote:
Pavel Krivanek http://www.comtalk.eu/Squeak/98
On Sun, Jun 29, 2008 at 4:09 AM, Yoshiki Ohshima yoshiki@vpri.org wrote:
Write a compiler in another language. That can generates the bits that are same as CompiledMethods. For a class definition, it creates (yes) the network of pointers.
The compiler sticks the class definitions, method dictionaries, subclass structure, and compiled methods into a big "int*" array. The goal is to make that something just run, so for example, the stuff managed by ClassDescription (instanceVariable names and organization) don't have to be compiled. Stuff like the source pointer is not needed at this stage.
The compiler doesn't have to be in another language. What is important is that the compiler builds a Squeak image from a text file. The compiler can be written in Smalltalk as long as it uses only the class definitions in the test file, not in the compiler's image.
This is more or less settled but...
If the compiler is written in Smalltalk, we would have a binary image to store the compiler; and some people wouldn't like it. Nonetheless, it can be in Slang and we can just show the translated C code as if it is the "egg".
-- Yoshiki