Have you looked at Maru? It's likely(?) what you're after. Or was. On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 7:43 PM, Erick Lavoie <erick.lav...@gmail.com>wrote:
> I've found the vision of a simple, open and evolutionary adaptable > programming language substrate, as described in Albert [1], tantalizing. I > especially like the idea of dynamically evolving a language 'from within' a > fluid substrate. I am left wondering the extent to which this vision was > realized and its actual benefits. > > The commit log of idst [2] shows that work has been done up until 2009 > (minus the minor commit in 2010). The 2009 and 2010 NSF reports make no > mention of the COLA system, the latter report mentions Nothing as the target > for all the other DSLs. No comment has been made on the language(s) used to > explore the VMs design. The git mirror for idst and ocean are not accessible > on Micheal FIG website anymore. The latest papers citing [1] dates from 2009 > [3]. Based on Alan's comment that "it is not an incremental project [...]. > We actually throw away much of our code and rewrite with new designs pretty > often" [4], I would assume that there is no interest in pursuing the COLA > project anymore. > > However, I would still be interested in lessons learned from developing and > using COLA for implementing VMs: > > Was a fully bootstrapped dynamic implementation ever realized (Coke-based > implementation of the Pepsi compiler and Coke compiler/evaluator)? > > Was the system used to implement major subsystems (Worlds, Continuations, > On Stack Replacement, Multi-Threading, Network-Transparent and > Fault-Tolerant Distributed semantic)? > > What were the major gains in the practice of developing a new VM when using > a dynamic substrate? What was not significant in practice? > > Was the "evolve from within" strategy truly fruitful? If not, was it a > problem in the vision or in its implementation? > > Was there still a need to start from scratch instead of using COLA to > prototype new implementation techniques or bootstrap a new system? Why? > > I understand that the VPRI team is probably racing against the clock to put > the final touches to Frank and producing paperwork for the NSF, so I guess > more detailed answers might come next year (or hopefully in the last report) > but I am still interested in relevant pointers to article/documentation/code > and experience from members of this list which might provide elements of > answer to those questions. > > In the present, I am interested in developing a COLA-like system that could > serve as an exploration vehicle for research on high-performance > meta-circular VMs for dynamic languages. The main objective would be to > drastically reduce the amount of effort needed to test new ideas about > object representations, calling conventions, memory management, compiler > optimizations, etc. and pave the way for more dynamic optimizations. > > I would like the system to: > 1. allow interactive and safe development of multiple natively-running > object representations and dynamic compilers with full tool support > (debugger, profiler, inspector) > 2. easily migrate the system to a different implementation language > > The first property would serve to bring the benefits of a live programming > environment to VM development (as possible in Squeak, through simulation) > and the second would serve a) to facilitate the dissemination of the > implementation techniques (including meta-circular VM construction) in > existing language communities (Python, JavaScript, Scheme, etc.) and b) > obtain expressive and performant notation(s) for VM research without having > to start from scratch each time. > > Answers to the aforementioned questions would guide my own implementation > strategy. I am also interested in pointers to past work that might be > relevant to such a pursuit. > > Erick > > [1] > http://piumarta.com/papers/**albert.pdf<http://piumarta.com/papers/albert.pdf> > [2] http://piumarta.com/svn2/idst/**trunk<http://piumarta.com/svn2/idst/trunk> > [3] http://scholar.google.com/**scholar?cites=** > 8937759201081236471&as_sdt=**2005&sciodt=1,5&hl=en<http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=8937759201081236471&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=1,5&hl=en> > [4] > http://vpri.org/mailman/**private/fonc/2010/001352.html<http://vpri.org/mailman/private/fonc/2010/001352.html> > > > ______________________________**_________________ > fonc mailing list > fonc@vpri.org > http://vpri.org/mailman/**listinfo/fonc<http://vpri.org/mailman/listinfo/fonc> > -- Casey Ransberger
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