Alpha updated

[Brian Rice]

These features are now available in the bootstrap set of sources/images.

Note that if these are installed on the system path (eg via "make 
install"), then running with the initial image must be performed in the 
root of your Slate source path, otherwise the post-bootstrap load: 
calls will fail. This is a foreseen shortcoming and we'll try to 
address it.

Other features/fixes:
SmallInteger is checked for now in primitives wherever an Integer is 
required, since BigInteger support at that level is prohibitive 
currently. This includes array accesses and creation and forwardTo: 
calls.
The stable merge-sort is in, and there are various fixes in the 
libraries.

On Feb 1, 2005, at 11:07 AM, Brian Rice wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I've added a hook to the bootstrap process whereby all of the 
> post-core-library convenience code is allocated in a separate file, 
> src/mobius/vm/post-load.slate.
>
> The contents of this file will be processed along with the normal 
> bootstrap, so changing it and incorporating those changes cleanly will 
> at worst require a new bootstrap.
>
> However, an important use of this file will be to load other library 
> files. This allowed removing many non-critical libraries from the 
> Slate bootstrap proper, and also allows inclusion of the map/role 
> protocol (from src/mobius/vm/interp/map.slate), the inspector, the 
> object-path library, and so on. This also means that if you want to 
> change any of those libraries' contents, it can be done without a 
> bootstrap, since post-load.slate is evaluated /after/ all other 
> libraries (in other words, when you start up an image that we 
> distribute).
>
> I've also included a banner to explain this while the startup process 
> occurs and also a reminder and example code to save the resulting 
> image.
>
> I don't have time to finish my current bootstrap and upload images to 
> the alpha area, but perhaps someone else will be able to today; in any 
> case, there will be a new set by the end of the day, and I'll reply 
> when it's available.
>
> Enjoy!
--
Brian T. Rice
LOGOS Research and Development
http://tunes.org/~water/