"Paul Prescod" <paul / prescod.net> wrote in message
news:3C6BFF6D.70DB6D37 / prescod.net...
> David Simmons wrote:
> >
> >...
> >
> > Having done the work for SmallScript (an extended Smalltalk) for .NET, I
can
> > tell you that it has crucial features for making this job easier and the
> > resulting implementation more efficient and flexible than an equivalent
> > Java/JVM effort. Noting that two Smalltalk implementation for JVM
projects
> > have been done.
>
> Can you summarize?

I can make a few general comments.

The metadata mechanism is fully extensible and provides a powerful tool for
annotations that can be used for reflection by a custom (dynamic language)
runtime dispatching system.

The mechanisms for dealing with value-types and boxing are more general.

The IL itself offers instructions for directly dispatching to a function
given its address. The IL reflection framework provides methods for
obtaining the address of a function. Which feeds directly back to rolling
your own runtime dispatching system.

The execution architecture supports intrinsic thread local storage which
enables thread-safe passing of additional arguments.

There are quite a few other things, but this should be enough to whet the
appetite.

-- Dave S. [www.smallscript.org]

>
>  Paul Prescod
>