Newbie

[Keith Poole]

I never thought about using Javascript as a language like this, but I 
suppose it depends on the environment it's running in - would this be 
something like:

- A Javascript compiler running on a VM which will compile down to 
native code on whichever platform it's running on
- Garbage collection/Object Store would be carried out by the VM (the VM 
would perform the role of a microkernel?) - would this be written in JS?
- Extensions to Javascript for low level coding (to allow H/W drivers to 
be written)

or am I missing the point?

If that's that you're thinking, it's not a bad idea to use a C syntax 
for development, since lots of people would be comfortable with that.

As far as the Right Thing(tm) goes, personally I think you'd struggle to 
unify all of these languages, but there must be a set of minimal 
principles that can be derived from them & people could create other 
features from them.

Cheers
Keith

PS, by Ian Piumarta's work do you mean the reconfigurable VM?



Tom Novelli wrote:
> I'd like to finish up the CMS and the historical/static website 
> content, so if you can cover "current events" that'd be great.  Are 
> you following any projects or issues that might be of interest to us?
>
> As for something concrete, we shouldn't underestimate the 
> inspirational power of a new proof-of-concept OS.  It's important not 
> to take this too seriously -- no name, no website, no long-winded 
> formal specifications -- just a simple OS written in a simple language 
> like Javascript (with the ECMA static typing extension), with Garbage 
> Collection and a Persistent Object Store implemented at the OS level.  
> All high-level, no support for C, Assembler, etc.  Drivers for VESA 
> video, USB, ethernet/wireless, TCP/IP/HTTP, and a simplistic XML/XHTML 
> browser.  Fare seems to think it's doable, and we could build upon Ian 
> Piumarta's work...
>
> The "right thing" would be to survey all the important/popular 
> languages (Lisp, Perl, Python, Ruby, Javascript, ML, Haskell...) and 
> do a _thorough_ comparison of semantics & libraries (and how style & 
> syntax are intertwined with semantics), then suggest changes to better 
> integrate and unify these languages.  But I doubt anyone has the 
> discipline to do that.
>
> - Tom
>