Steve, is there some writeup on the your approach to making JikesRVM "modular and composable"?
thanks, dims On 5/11/05, Steve Blackburn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Larry, > > I understand your sentiment. I am also a pragmatist. > > One of my major missions over the past year or so has been cleaning up > Jikes RVM to make it more modular and composable. We've nearly got > there with memory management, but still have a way to go with the other > components. > > Why is this important? > > Because I want to make it easier for people to contribute to the > project. Not just in terms of a few lines here or there, or a bell or a > whistle, but I want people to be able to drop in alternative compilers, > alternative GC algorithms etc. Unless the framework is right the > impedance becomes too high and the rate of non-trivial contribution > drops off to a trickle. Getting the framework right after the fact is > an enormous task. > > The fundamental architecture of the VM is what makes or breaks it. The > "just get it out the door" approach has its merits for some projects, > but for something as complex as this, if you want the thing to > last---which we do---give some thought to the architecture before you > throw it over the fence. Choosing to build it in Java or C/C++ is a > relatively unimportant issue for most projects, but for a JVM it will > have a significant impact on the architecture. > > The goal posts are moving very fast, in terms of the spec, in terms of > the competing technology, and in terms of the architectural targets. > Thus the importance of ongoing non-trivial contributions is enormous > with a project such as this. > > This is why I brought it up now (and that is why I prefaced my original > comments the way I did). > > --Steve > > Larry Meadors wrote: > > >Despite my earlier Mono comment, I could not possibly care less what is used > >to build the JVM. Use Ruby if it gets the job done. > > > >My vote would be to use whatever gets it done quickly and correctly. IMO, > >focusing on performance at this point is important, but not critical. > > > >First priority: Get it out the door, and make sure it is easy to build so > >everyone who want to tweak it can. > > > >Second priority: Work with the community to make it faster and more stable > >than anything anyone has ever seen. > > > > > > -- Davanum Srinivas - http://webservices.apache.org/~dims/
