Embeddable/scalable Smalltalk VM needs funding for release (repost/update from squeak-dev)

Hi folks. I posted earlier in squeak-dev about a Smalltalk implementation I've been working on. The first post was a bit unwieldy, but there was at least some interest so I'm posting an update to vm-dev and pharo-dev.

Main strong points are that it's embeddable (like Lua or SQLite) and scalable (like Erlang). There are weak points too, of course (e.g. hot loop performance will be much worse than Squeak/Pharo at this point).

The VM itself is pure C and has no dependencies apart from libc and libm. It doesn't require a filesystem (you can pipe VM images through custom stream implementations or arrays) and it should run well in tight (~1MB) memory situations.

The extension system is similar to the Unix system call and virtual filesystem APIs, so it's kind-of object oriented but in a very "C" way. All extension resources are managed properly (so the system can clean up safely and/or warn you if you allocate memory and don't deallocate it, for example).

Extensions are available for cells (threads/individual VMs), shared memory (so different cells can communicate efficiently - but also with memory protection and calling features for implementing domain-specific JIT compilers), windowing and event handling (based on SDL2) and 2D graphics rendering (based on Cairo). There are some higher-level libraries (stylable GUI system, tight OS integration, 3D modelling, etc.).

It's polished in some ways (there's a test suite, an integrated help system, colour shell, etc.), but it needs a lot more refinement in others (the current GUI style is terrible, it needs more documentation, there's only minimal support for keyboard entry, no networking library, etc.).

I'd like to release it (ideally as 100% public domain/CC0), but I don't want to do so without some way of funding development. The project promises a lot and I want to actually deliver with some ongoing updates and support (and being able to pay rent next week would also be a plus), so I'm not interested in just dumping it on GitHub and calling it a day.

So I'm open to any suggestions as to how to fund this project at least in the short term and how it might fit into the wider Squeak/Pharo/Smalltalk ecosystems, as well as any technical criticism relating to the implementation itself.

I've put together a basic website describing the implementation in a bit more detail (sorry, no downloads yet): http://a4vm.info/

-Zak.

Hi. You're right to be a little sceptical, this is all pre-alpha stuff.

However, watch this space... I should have an update in a couple of days as to whether or not the launch will go ahead (and, if so, how). More technical details will come with that update.

Sorry, I got threads in wrong order here (I'm not so used to mailing lists). This response is for Ben. My wonderful email client isn't letting me quote properly either.

Yes, whole system fits in <1MB. It's roughly 270KB for the complete core system (100KB VM, 170KB image) and about 700KB with all of the extensions and libraries.

My images are still much bigger than they need to be. I haven't tried an absolute minimal one without the compiler and such - but the higher-level stuff (GUI, threading, other extension-specific things) is all optional.

As for the problem of marketing a Smalltalk VM (chicken and egg, Smalltalk being a niche), well, I have a very simple solution: Sell it as something else (a game design tool, for example). I do want to sell a generic "SDK" product as well, and this will look more like Smalltalk, but the "app store" versions will probably be more like PICO-8, i.e. "fun" and "beginner-friendly" development tools (not language-focused).

(There will be versions with source code as well. My current plan is probably to release "stable" versions with full source, but keep new features closed-source until they make it into a stable release. This should solve a few issues and result in a healthy balance.)

I was initially going to target it at existing Lua users (it's very easy to implement Lua in Smalltalk, of course), but they were too confused about persistence actually working, so I figured having a GUI toolkit and threading libraries built-in would be too much for them :). Turning the product into a kind-of "premium Lua" might still be an option though.

You're probably right about needing a demo release to attract more interest. Good news is, I should have an update very shortly about funding, I just don't want to jinx it :).

I'm in Canberra. Was hoping to visit WA this year actually but didn't end up happening.