Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!spar!pplace!dean From: dean@pplace.COM (Dean Ritz) Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk Subject: Smalltalk-80 Facts Message-ID: <364@parcplace.pplace.COM> Date: 23 Sep 88 23:55:43 GMT Reply-To: dean@pplace () Organization: ParcPlace Systems, Palo Alto CA Lines: 30 Hello Comp.lang.smalltalk, We at ParcPlace Systems enjoy reading all the recent net activity regarding the Smalltalk-80 system. We'd like to take this opportunity to correct two incorrect statements about the ParcPlace Smalltalk-80 system which have appeared both recently and in the past. 1) While it is true that most Smalltalk-80 systems "use byte-code interpretation," the Smalltalk-80 systems produced by ParcPlace Systems compile to and execute native code. They are built upon innovative compiler technology, called "dynamic translation." In brief, we use a two stage compiler which compiles from source text to byte-code, and then from byte-code to native code (which is saved in a cache and executed as needed). This technology enables Smalltalk-80 to have the compactness and portability of byte-codes, and significantly better performance than interpretion technology permits. For technical background, see the paper by Deutsch and Schiffman in the proceedings of the 1984 POPL conference. 2) The second incorrect statement is that "ParcPlace Systems shows little interest in [linking to assembly/C/C++ code]". Our current releases on the Apple Macintosh, Sun-3, Sun-4, Sun386i, HP-9000, Compaq DeskPro 386, IBM PS/2-70, and Apollo workstations supports user defined primitives. These enable the integration of routines written in common languages like C. Best Regards to all, Dean Ritz ParcPlace Systems E-mail: Info@ParcPlace.com Phone: 415.859.1000