The NewCompiler project aims at developing a new compiler to take the place of the one currently in use in the Squeak image. This will bring many advantages: a better integration with the Refactoring Browser subsystem; a cleaner internal structure with better maintainability, and “real” closures that will make the #fixTemps workaround unnecessary.
Category: Squeak Internals
-
Squeak startup process, explained
In replying to a question on the Beginners mailing list, Yoshiki Ohshima explained the startup process of a Squeak image, from the moment the VM is invoked by the operating system, to the moment the user can start interacting with the Squeak system.
-
Spoon progress report – October 3rd 2006
Craig Latta posted a new progress report on his Spoon project, which aims to create a minimal live system based on Squeak.
Craig announces that in his quest for getting a really minimal system, he managed to remove the SystemDictionary class, a class that plays a fundamental role in a standard Squeak (and Smalltalk system). -
A new format for CompiledMethods
The current implementation of CompiledMethods objects is quite complicated. This is due to the fact that this class is one of the most important for the Squeak VM: it holds the information the VM needs to execute a method. This meant that many of the changes that have occured on this class focused on backwards compatibility instead of design simplicity.
Tim Rowledge has recently proposed a new format for CompiledMethods objects which would semplify not only the internals of CompiledMethods, but some other parts of the system too. This modification is based on an older proposal of Tim dating to 1998.
Tim proposal sparked a discussion on Squeak-dev that, albeit a little difficult, is very interesting to read.
The Weekly Squeak 