External DLL Interfacing

--
Andy Bower
Dolphin Support
www.object-arts.com

Folks,

I noticed a recent thread on comp.lang.smalltalk about building DLLs
with VisualWorks. It seems that, like Dolphin, they don't yet have that
capability. I include a snippet of the thread:

------
> Jay O'Connor wrote:
> Is there anyway to create a VisualWorks image such that it can be
> accessed from other programs as a DLL? If so, how do you defeine the
> interface?

Eliot Miranda replied:
Not as yet. I did a prototype in '98 which hasn't been productised.
We're interested in productising something sometime but are stretched
for resources.

How many people want it?

How important is call-in performance? The prototype ran the image in a
separate thread so that call-ins were asynchronous and slow (~3
milliseconds on a 200MHz Pentium, so probably still 100s of
microseconds
on contemporary hardware)

Anybody willing to fund development (pay for a person for 6 months to a
year, say $75k to $150k)?

Anyone willing to chip in to fund development?
------

I mention this here since there was a recent request in this forum for
a similar facility in Dolphin.  If anyone here is prepared to fund
development of the Dolphin version We'd probably be prepared to accept
as payment a more modest $25K, two pints of beer and a packet of potato
chips.

In the meantime, I may just suggest to Eliot that he might be able to
reduce those prices if he were to first re-implement the VisualWorks VM
in a more powerful language such as VisualBasic. Actually, would anyone
else like to do this, as I fear I may come away with a punch on the
nose.

Best regards,

--
Andy Bower
Dolphin Support
www.object-arts.com

> two pints of beer and a packet of
> potato chips.

BTW, those are UK not US pints.

Best regards

--
Andy Bower
Dolphin Support
www.object-arts.com

Andy Bower wrote:
>>two pints of beer and a packet of
>>potato chips.
>
>
> BTW, those are UK not US pints.

... so shouldn't that be crisps and not chips? :-)

--
Ian

Use the Reply-To address to contact me.
Mail sent to the From address is ignored.

Andy Bower escribió:
>>two pints of beer and a packet of
>>potato chips.
  > BTW, those are UK not US pints.

I can contribute with one liter of Quilmes for you and one for Blair.

<http://www.quilmes.com.ar/>


Best regards,

--
Esteban

Andy Bower wrote:

[snip]

> I mention this here since there was a recent request in this forum for
> a similar facility in Dolphin.  If anyone here is prepared to fund
> development of the Dolphin version We'd probably be prepared to accept
> as payment a more modest $25K, two pints of beer and a packet of potato
> chips.

>
> In the meantime, I may just suggest to Eliot that he might be able to
> reduce those prices if he were to first re-implement the VisualWorks VM
> in a more powerful language such as VisualBasic. Actually, would anyone
> else like to do this, as I fear I may come away with a punch on the
> nose.
>
> Best regards,
>
:)

Remember that we have to deploy and test across the current count of 17
platforms (distinct VMs), which should grow to over 20 with additional
64-bit platforms.  We also have to document.  $75k is cheap, believe me.

Now I'm sure you could do 1 platform for $25k.  How much for 17?

--
_______________,,,^..^,,,____________________________
Eliot Miranda              Smalltalk - Scene not herd

"Andy Bower" <[hidden email]> wrote in message
news:[hidden email]...
> I mention this here since there was a recent request in this forum for
> a similar facility in Dolphin.  If anyone here is prepared to fund
> development of the Dolphin version We'd probably be prepared to accept
> as payment a more modest $25K, two pints of beer and a packet of potato
> chips.

I could take care of those 2 pints maybe even chips!

rush
--
http://www.templatetamer.com/
http://www.folderscavenger.com/

Ian Bartholomew schrieb:

> Andy Bower wrote:
> >>two pints of beer and a packet of
> >>potato chips.
> >
> >
> > BTW, those are UK not US pints.
>
> ... so shouldn't that be crisps and not chips? :-)
>
Right, and I think it should be two pints of Lager, but the knownlegde
of the musings of Splodgenessabounds (UK Punk band from the ewarly 80s,
renowned for the lyrical masterpiece 'Two Pints Of Lager and a Packet
of Crisps Please!',    apparently still active these days (see the
parallel to Smalltalk)) is somewhat buried these days.

Cheers

Mat

Matt wrote:

> Right, and I think it should be two pints of Lager, but the knownlegde
> of the musings of Splodgenessabounds (UK Punk band from the ewarly 80s,
> renowned for the lyrical masterpiece 'Two Pints Of Lager and a Packet
> of Crisps Please!',    apparently still active these days (see the
> parallel to Smalltalk)) is somewhat buried these days.

Owned that single and remember it fondly!

> Mat



                      Steve

Eliot Miranda wrote:
> :)
>
> Remember that we have to deploy and test across the current count of 17
> platforms (distinct VMs), which should grow to over 20 with additional
> 64-bit platforms.  We also have to document.  $75k is cheap, believe me.
>
> Now I'm sure you could do 1 platform for $25k.  How much for 17?
>

I thought DLLs are Windows specific... ;-)

Anyway, I am sure that $75k is cheap for a big company.

Andy,

> I mention this here since there was a recent request in this forum for
> a similar facility in Dolphin.  If anyone here is prepared to fund
> development of the Dolphin version We'd probably be prepared to accept
> as payment a more modest $25K, two pints of beer and a packet of potato
> chips.

TWO pints!!!!  Forget it :)  Actually, my use of DLLs with Dolphin
usually goes the other way: Dolphin calling the DLL, and its that way
because the thing either already exists or because it does a lot of
number crunching and would crawl in Smalltalk.

With that said, I could see how one might wish to use Dolphin for
something that would drop into another project, and a DLL is a way to do
it.  Threading limitations aside, you are almost there with a C/C++
facade around an interface pointer into a Dolphin DLL.

Any chance of getting that for a keg and couple of steaks? :)

Have a good one,

Bill


--
Wilhelm K. Schwab, Ph.D.
[hidden email]

Bill Schwab wrote:

> Any chance of getting that for a keg and couple of steaks? :)

Now that really *is* a thorny problem - I couldn't even begin to figure
out the conversion rate between British and American comfort meals. That
puts the most esoteric financial instruments to shame.

> Bill



                Steve