Frost & Pocket Java

Eric Arseneau earseneau at exobox.com
Sat Dec 16 00:14:15 UTC 2000


Can someone post this to c.l.s, I'm having problems with my news reader and
would like to get this out.

Tx

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric Arseneau 
> Sent: Friday, December 15, 2000 3:08 PM
> To: 'squeak at cs.uiuc.edu'
> Subject: Frost & Pocket Java
> 
> 
> Here is something I was going to send a few weeks back but I 
> never got a chance to do it.  Maybe we can combine the Pocket 
> Java stuff and Frost, as they do some of the same basic things:
> 
> I have had Java running inside of Pocket Smalltalk for about 
> 2 years now, but have not had the chance to go very far.  In 
> the last few months I have ported the work to Squeak.  Pocket 
> Java now runs under Sqeak.
> 
> Here is what Pocket Java has now:
> - Java .class file reader, I can read any cimpiled Java code
> 	- the result of reading Java class files is an object 
> structure representing everything that was in the .class 
> file, attributes, bytecodes, methods, constants and all
> - Code Space browser
> 	- I have the concept of a code space that uses the 
> class file reader to read in Java code
> 	- I can recursively cause all of the required class 
> files to be read in to create a complete code base to run the 
> specified Java class files
> - Code Space browser
> 	- looks like our standard browser
> 	- Package list pane, class and interface list pane, 
> method list pane, and a code pane showing a dissassembly of 
> the Java bytecodes
> 	- Have a Java package that decompiles Java code
> 		- run this on my VM to decompile Java code, but 
> ran in VA ST, not ported yet to Squeak
> - Java VM written in Squeak
> 	- runs Java bytecodes
> 	- implements native/primitive methods in Smalltalk
> - Java debugger
> 	- stepping
> 	- breakpoints
> - Java object inspector
> 
> I can run a simple Hello World type of program.  I ahev 
> started to implement the Java base packages, but a lot more 
> work needs to be done.
> 
> Would anyone be interested in working with this and see how 
> we can get it moving more quickly than I have been able to.  
> You can read a paper on Pocket Java at
> http://www.pocketsmalltalk.com/Solutions99/index.htm
> 
> Which shows what Pocket Java and Pocket ST do together.
> 
> What this code allows us to do is run Java code directly in 
> Squeak.  The intent is to translate the Java code to 
> Smalltalk code.  This way we could write Smalltalk code to 
> fix up Java code, and leverage some of the stuff written in Java.
> 
> I would like to get some help on getting stuff done for this:
> 	- Get AWT and Swing running - means implementing the 
> native methods
> 	- Get the Java to Squeak translator working - have started it
> 
> Anyone think this would be interesting enough to work on ?  
> If nothing else it is really cool to see Java running in Squeak !!!
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Les Tyrrell [mailto:tyrrell at canis.uiuc.edu]
> > Sent: Friday, December 15, 2000 2:36 PM
> > To: squeak at cs.uiuc.edu
> > Subject: Cincom open-sources Frost.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Sure it was written for VisualWorks, but it should be 
> possible to port
> > to Squeak.  Frost is not quite ready yet for distribution, 
> but if you
> > would like to get involved I can help you get started.  I 
> hope to have
> > the work I've done packaged a bit better sometime early 
> next week, but
> > will be pretty busy this weekend ( bad timing ).
> > 
> > There is a lot of work to be done yet, but it can already 
> do some very
> > impressive things ( things we take for granted in Smalltalk, 
> > of course ).
> > One can learn a great deal about Virtual Machinery from this 
> > ( after all,
> > you'd be poking around in a Java VM AND the Squeak VM ), if you are
> > educationally inclined.
> > 
> > I've started a Wiki at: 
> > 
> > 	http://oasis.canis.uiuc.edu:8080/Frost
> > 
> > My efforts for the near future will focus on making it possible for
> > VisualWorks developers to download & install Frost cleanly ( this is
> > currently hard to do, but I am making progress ), and on making
> > the documentation and other information for Frost available, and
> > over time up to date.
> > 
> > - les
> > 
> > 
> > James A. Robertson <jarober at home.com> wrote:
> > > I would like to announce that Cincom has open sourced 
> > (under the PPL -
> > > see http://www.parcplace.com/support/opensource/PPL-1.0.html for
> > > details) the code for the 'Frost' project.  'Frost' was an 
> > attempt by
> > > ParcPlace-Digitalk to create an execution engine for Java 
> inside the
> > > VisualWorks system.  The work stopped in mid-1998 after 
> the company
> > > changed its name to ObjectShare.
> > > 
> > > When Cincom acquired VisualWorks, it also acquired 'Frost'. 
> >  This code
> > > has lain dormant, and we have decided that the broader Smalltalk
> > > community might well benefit from the initial work.  
> > > 
> > > I have posted the original work to:
> > > 
> > > http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/sources/frost.zip
> > > 
> > > However, this has been done mainly to have the code 
> > 'officially' open
> > > sourced.  Ralph Johnson and a few others (mainly Les 
> > Tyrell) have been
> > > working on this code for some time now.  The code as posted 
> > is an Envy
> > > (3.01) configuration map.  This isn't terribly useful in 
> > and of itself,
> > > since that is an old and unsupported product at this point 
> > in time.  I
> > > understand that Les has made progress in extracting the 
> code, and I
> > > would suggest that anyone interested in working on 'Frost' 
> > talk to Les
> > > and/or Ralph.  
> > > 
> > > I have started a project page here:
> > > 
> > > http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com:8080/CincomSmalltalkWiki/Frost+Page
> > > 
> > > --
> > > James A. Robertson
> > > Product Manager (Smalltalk), Cincom
> > > jarober at mail.com
> > > 
> > > <Talk Small and Carry a Big Class Library>
> > 
> 





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