On 7-Aug-08, at 5:18 AM, K. K. Subramaniam wrote:
>>
> I think the original question about creating an image from first  
> principles
> was about transmutation, not cloning.

The SystemTracer can easily create new images from specs rather than  
'merely cloning' an existing image. It writes bits into a chunk of  
WordAray whic is then written out in a usable format. It would be  
trivial to provide a primitive that writes the new image memory to  
another process in a HydraVM instead of writing to a file. Cloning  
simply uses an existing image as a spec. There is nothing to prevent  
us using xml or some other horrific format as a spec to generate a  
completely from-scratch image via the tracer.

> How does one create a Smalltalk
> environment (i.e. an image) starting with an environment that has only
> imperative programming tools (e.g. C/C++, Forth etc.)? What is  
> sought is a
> process that can be replicated by anyone proficient in the imperative
> environment.

Why waste time using crappy tools. We already have working Smalltalk  
systems. It would be as silly as me replicating the work where I  
manually created stub images for testing back in 1987.

tim
--
tim Rowledge; tim at rowledge.org; http://www.rowledge.org/tim
Fractured Idiom:- MERCI RIEN - Thanks for nothin'.