December 2020 - Esug-list - lists.esug.org

[ANN] SqueakJS 1.0

by Vanessa Freudenberg

Hi All, yesterday I released version 1.0 of SqueakJS, exactly 7 years after my first public announcement on December 20, 2013. https://squeak.js.org/ Arguably I should have done this back in 2016 when it could run Spur images. What got it over the last hump was Fabio's interpreter for Sista bytecodes and Erik's refactoring for Node.js. SqueakJS is now the most compatible Squeak VM: it can run pre-release images from 1996 as well as the latest Squeak 6.0 trunk image. For production, you should still use non-Sista images, because no JIT has been implemented yet. A big Thank You to all the contributors over the years, and to Dan Ingalls for the inspiration, and funding the initial development. There are still many things to work on: - a simple JIT for Sista bytecode to bring its speed at least up to par with its pre-Sista speed - a "real" JIT with context mapping (keeping temps in JS vars rather than on the stack) and send optimizations (mapping sends to JS function invocations) - 64 bit support for pre-Spur images - big-endian support for 64 bit images Help is very welcome at https://github.com/codefrau/SqueakJS Happy Holidays to Everyone! Vanessa

Dec. 22, 2020

Smalltalk Zoo: 48 Years of Smalltalk History at CHM

by Vanessa Freudenberg

> > In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the release of Smalltalk-80, > the Computer History Museum is proud to announce a collaboration with Dan > Ingalls to preserve and host the “Smalltalk Zoo.” Dan has been working on this for a good while now. I helped with the SqueakJS part. Today the Computer History Museum announced it: https://computerhistory.org/blog/introducing-the-smalltalk-zoo-48-years-of-… Not everything is working perfectly yet. If you want to help out, I can put you in touch with Dan. Cheers! Vanessa

Dec. 18, 2020

MoreVMs 2021 : Workshop on Modern Language Runtimes, Ecosystems, and VMs

by Fabio Niephaus

============================================================================ Call for Extended Abstracts and Talks: MoreVMs’21 5th International Workshop on Modern Language Runtimes, Ecosystems, and VMs Co-located with ‹Programming›’21 March 22nd to 26th, 2021, Online, United Kingdom https://2021.programming-conference.org/home/MoreVMs-2021 ============================================================================ Following four previous successful editions, the MoreVMs’21 workshop aims to bring together industrial and academic programmers to discuss the design, implementation, and usage of modern languages and runtimes. This includes aspects such as reuse of language runtimes, modular implementation, language design, and compilation strategies. By bringing together both researchers and practitioners, the workshop aims to enable a diverse discussion on how languages and runtimes are currently being utilized, and where they need to improve further. In addition to conventional workshop-style submissions, MoreVMs also accepts (and encourages) submissions that present early-stage work and emerging ideas. Relevant topics include, but are definitely not limited to, the following: - Extensible VM design (compiler- or interpreter-based VMs) - Reusable components (e.g. interpreters, garbage collectors, ...) - Static and dynamic compilation techniques - Techniques for targeting high-level languages such as JavaScript - Interoperability between languages - Tooling support (e.g. debugging, profiling, etc.) - Programming language development environments - Case studies of existing language implementation approaches - Language implementation challenges and trade-offs - Surveys and usage reports to understand usage in the wild - Ideas for more predictable performance - Ideas for how VMs could take advantage of new hardware features - Ideas for how we should build languages in the future Workshop Format and Submissions ------------------------------- We welcome presentation proposals in the form of extended abstracts (2 to 4 pages long) and talk proposals (title and 400 words abstract) discussing new techniques, insights, experiences, works-in-progress, as well as future visions, from either an academic or industrial perspective. The extended abstracts and talk proposals, and if the speakers wish, their slides, will be published on the workshop's website. Alternatively, extended abstracts can be published as part of the companion of ‹Programming›’21 in the ACM DL. Publication in the ACM DL is conditional on the acceptance by the program committee. Please note that MoreVMs’21 is organized as an academic workshop, and as such, speakers will be required to register for the workshop. Author Instructions ------------------- Submissions should use the ACM `acmart` format: https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template If you are using LaTeX, submissions should use the 'acmart' document class with the 'sigconf' option, and with a font size of 9 point. Please use the Libertine/Biolinum font family. Please include page numbers in your submission using the LaTeX command `\settopmatter{printfolios=true}`. All submissions should be in PDF format. Please also ensure that your submission is legible when printed on a black and white printer. In particular, please check that colors remain distinct and font sizes are legible. Submission Site: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=morevms21 Important Dates --------------- Extended abstract and talk submissions: 2021-01-13 Author notification: 2021-02-15 Camera Ready: 2021-02-26 Workshop: TBA (between 2021-03-22 and 2021-03-26) All deadlines are Anywhere on Earth (AoE), i.e. GMT/UTC-12:00 hour. Program Committee ----------------- Maya Armyanova, Google, Germany Maxime Chevalier-Boisvert, Université de Montréal, Canada Lukas Diekmann, King's College London, United Kingdom Charlie Gracie, Microsoft, Canada Daco Harkes, Google, Denmark Christian Humer, Oracle Labs, Switzerland Sophie Kaleba, University of Kent, United Kingdom Mikel Luján, University of Manchester, United Kingdom Ana Milanova, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, United States Tobias Pape, Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Germany Tomoharu Ugawa, University of Tokyo, Japan Organizers ---------- Fabio Niephaus, Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Germany David Leopoldseder, Oracle Labs, Austria

Dec. 16, 2020

Call for Beta-testers Pharo ARM64 JIT

by Stéphane Ducasse

Dear happy Pharoers and others, Over the last months we have been working on the implementation of a MIT-licensed ARMv8 Just-In-Time compiler for Pharo VM. We are very happy with the advance on this subject, as we have not only implemented a new backend but we have added more than 2500 tests to the JIT, the primitives, code generation, plugins and the VM in general. In the process we fixed many problems. It shows that following the roadmap that was decided during General assembly of PharoDays, we have been investing in the Pharo VM and that our efforts are greatly paying off. Also, we are generating a lot of documentation and improving the process to really democratize the development of the VM. So Pharo is a better shape than ever on such matter and this opens a lot of possibility for the future. ## Call for Beta-Testers We would like to announce that a first version of our JIT backend is available for beta-testing for ARM Linux machines using Ubuntu. We are now entering into a beta testing stage of the VM and the image in Ubuntu ARM 64. We would like to invite you to our beta testing phase for the VM. If you're interested in participating, please contact pablo.tesone(a)inria.fr. The following sections give more details of the current status, and the following steps including Apple Silicon, Windows ARM64 and Linux Open Build System support. ## Current Status Our objective is to have a running JIT for the new aarch64 architecture (ARM 64bits). This task includes not only a new backend for the JIT compiler but also adding support for external libraries, dependencies and the build process. This means having a working VM with comparable features as the one existing in Intel X64. We are targeting all the major operating systems running in this platform (Linux, OSX, Windows). Each of them present different restrictions and conditions. This is the current status: - We implemented a full backend for the JIT compiler targeting aarch64. - All the image side was adapted to run on it, tested on Ubuntu ARM 64 bits. - We added support for: Iceberg (Libgit) / Athens (Cairo) / SDL / GTK - We implemented a LibFFI-based FFI backend as the default one for Pharo 9 in aarch64 (next to come in all platforms). This opens the door to ease port the features to other platforms and OSes. ## Following Steps and Open Betas: Linux Open Build System (OBS), Windows ARM64 and Apple Silicon Linux Systems: In the following days, we will also support Raspbian (Debian) and Manjaro on ARM64. For doing so, we are pushing the last details in having a single Linux build system through OBS. So, if you want to start doing beta-testing of these versions please contact us. A public beta will be open in around two weeks. Windows Systems: We have extended the build process to fully support Microsoft Visual Studio compilers and more flexibility to select the targets, also we are building it to run in Windows ARM. To correctly run the VM in Windows it is needed to build all dependencies for aarch64. In the following weeks, we expect to have a working Non-JIT version and a JIT version. The remaining points to have a JIT version are related with the build process as the API of the operating system has not changed from X64 to aarch64. OSX Systems: Our third target is to have a working version for the newest Apple silicon. We are acquiring the corresponding hardware to test and to address the differences in the API exposed to JIT applications. As it is the case of the Windows VM, there is not need to change the machine code generation backend; but to compile external libraries, and particularities of the new OS version. Thanks for your support, and again, if you like to start beta testing the VM please contact us. In the meantime, we will continue giving you news about the current state and where are we going. The consortium would like to particularly thank Schmidt Buro and Lifeware for their contracts. Regards, Pablo in behalf of the Pharo Consortium Engineers -------------------------------------------- Stéphane Ducasse http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr / http://www.pharo.org 03 59 35 87 52 Assistant: Aurore Dalle FAX 03 59 57 78 50 TEL 03 59 35 86 16 S. Ducasse - Inria 40, avenue Halley, Parc Scientifique de la Haute Borne, Bât.A, Park Plaza Villeneuve d'Ascq 59650 France

Dec. 12, 2020

UK Smalltalk User Group Meeting - Wednesday, December 30th

by Giovanni Corriga

The UK Smalltalk User Group will have an extra meeting this year on Wednesday, December 30th. feenk's Tudor Girba will present the latest in moldable development with Glamorous Toolkit. Moldable development is an approach to programming through which we make the inside of software systems explainable. Glamorous Toolkit makes it practical. And beautiful. Given the current COVID-19 restrictions, this will be an online meeting from home. If you'd like to join us, please sign up in advance on the meeting's Meetup page ( https://www.meetup.com/UKSTUG/events/275119813/ ) to receive the meeting details. Don’t forget to bring your laptop and drinks!

Dec. 11, 2020