> It would be nice if Squeak code could be called from normal  
applications
> similar to the way Apple's Java can be called. Has anyone tried to  
turn
> the squeak kernal into a shared library and create a truly minimal  
image
> to use with it? [An image that can do almost nothing except filein  
a set
> of sources you want to work with? (a non-interative, non-gui  
image, for
> instance.)]

I think this is a great idea and am currently trying to make it  
happen on MacOS-X-Server.  For this purpose, the YB port has now been  
split up into a front-end application hosting the app interfaces and  
a framework with just the interpreter and some of the glue code.

It should be possible to strip the image and present a set of dummy  
objects to the glue-routines, similar to the current capability to  
compile completely headles stand-alone Squeaks, but I haven't  
concentrated on that part yet.

Instead, I am currently working on a Squeak -> Objective-C bridge,  
which thanks to Andreas's pluggable primitives forwarded its first  
message from a Squeak proxy to an Objective-C object last saturday.   
Next up is argument marshalling, and though I do have a plan based on  
my limited understanding of Squeak, I would be grateful to hear  
suggestions from the group as to how best to accomplish this.

(Note that once you're in Objective-C, further bridges can  
transparently take you to Java, Tcl, Perl and Python).

However, what I'd really like to do, and what you seem to be  
implying as well, is go the other way, transparently forwarding  
messages from Objective-C proxies to Squeak objects, which looks a  
little more daunting.  I am not sure wether it is really possible to  
'jump into' the VM by constructing a message, or wether it starts to  
make more sense going to a co-routine based approach instead.  Also,  
I am not sure how Squeak deals with not really being in control of  
the CPU most of the time.  Again, enlightenment on these issues would  
be very much appreciated.

And finally, way into dream-land is the option of appropriately  
overlaying Squeak and Objective-C objects so the *same* object could  
be accessed both from Squeak and Objective-C, which could give a new  
twist to C-translation.

Marcel