Embedding VMs

[Marc Wachowitz]

The idea to create e.g. a direct superset of the JVM is misguided and would
only create useless baggage. Merely because almost everyone gives out some
marketing hype about being a true FOO-supporter (FOO being Java, ActiveX,
CORBA, or whatever may be the buzzword of the day), this doesn't mean that
we need to let all that mess "design" our system. Let's remember that Lisp
is about easy and powerful embedding - not about hard-wired emulation. Just
add a translator from whatever VM you wish to support to Lisp - e.g. a real
compiler from JVM to Common Lisp would be merely tedious work, assuming some
suitable foundations (e.g. you probably want to have direct IEEE floating
point arithmetic implemented, since software emulation would be too slow for
many cases), which are mostly good to have for a modern Lisp system anyway.

-- Marc Wachowitz <mw@ipx2.rz.uni-mannheim.de>