From: Robert Feldt <feldt@...>
Date: 2003-08-31T01:36:24+09:00
Subject: Re: Why would you abandon Ruby? (was)

Michael Slater <slater@effectivity.com> skrev den Fri, 29 Aug 2003 10:48:51 
+0900:

>> Perl/Python/Ruby are all currently implemented using straight
>> interpreters, whether bytecoded or not.  Modern implementations of
>> Smalltalk use very sophisticated adaptive JIT compilers that can
>> optimize away most of the cost of method lookup, inline heavy usage of
>> blocks, and so on.  These are very similar to Java's HotSpot compiler,
>> and have similar performance (for good reason: HotSpot was derived
>> from Sun's Self project, which is a prototype-based Smalltalk).
>> Interestingly, with this kind of JIT you get no benefit from static
>> type information - so the notion that Java is faster because it's
>> static is incorrect.
>
> HotSpot came from Longview Technologies, a company Sun acquired. It had
> nothing to do with any internal Sun project.
>
Actually, Longview Tech previously was called Animorhpic Systems which 
developed optimizing JIT compilers for Smalltalk and Java. Several of the 
folks working at Animorphic Systems was involved with the Self
project (prototype-based OO language with optimizing jit compiler
made by researchers sponsored by Sun). For more info you can start with

http://research.sun.com/self/compiler.html
[ruby-talk:22865] http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby- 
talk/22865

Parts of the Animorphic VM has been released as open-source but not the
critical parts; its a shame since it would make for a good start for
an optimizing jitter for Ruby.

Regards,

Robert Feldt