[squeak-dev] Compiling Smalltalk
Alejandro F. Reimondo
aleReimondo at smalltalking.net
Sat Jul 11 14:25:03 UTC 2009
David,
You can find a lot of experiences in Smalltalk field, some
many years before Java language was designed. If you do
some research in Smalltalk history,
a lot of good moments of reading is granted.
IMO Smalltalk without native compilation demostrates
the simplicity of Smalltalk (Dolphin Smalltalk low level
impl. come to my mind here), but it is a must where
high perfomance is required.
When considering object systems we must also consider
garbage collection and flow of energy spent in the system,
that most of the times is not reported from execution
speed nor microbenchmarks.
A lot of development has been done using Smalltalk
platforms (some results was exploited in java implementations
and others)... in dynamic compilation,
in strategies to manage objects and garbage
and in development of self sustaining systems.
Smalltalk do not impose a common base nor
fixed VM semantics, so advances in smalltalk
are diverse and continue today. This is the reason why
we can see diferent alternatives for smalltalk and
no need to converge to an universal model.
The compilation to native level is a must for a high
perfomance smalltalk, but it is not enough; today
eficience is needed at all levels and also compromise
with history (new smalltalk platforms like DNG,
comes to my mind here).
cheers,
Ale.
----- Original Message -----
From: David Zmick
To: Squeak-dev List
Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 10:40 PM
Subject: [squeak-dev] Compiling Smalltalk
Me and a cousin of mine where discussing the speed of compiled languages vs the speed of interpreted languages and the subject of compiling interpreted languages came up. Languages like Java that are compiled down to bytecode can then be compiled to machine code, but I was under the impression that concept was impossible with smalltalk. Why is this? And, I know there is a project to build a compiler for smaltalk, what is the concept behind it?
thanks
--
David Zmick
/dz0004455\
http://david-zmick.co.cc
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