|
|
|
|
|
|
by joeatwork
1157 days ago
|
|
|
I wish there were more books in this mold (reimplementing interesting or foundational systems in ways intended for humans to read and understand). I feel the like systems that would admit this sort of thing are important systems. I’d love to see this done with (for example) a Smalltalk image and interpreter, or a simplified network stack. |
|
|
"Chapter 26 described the function of the Smalltalk virtual machine, which consists of an interpreter and an object memory. This chapter and the next three present a more formal specification of these two parts of the virtual machine. Most implementations of the virtual machine will be written in machine language or microcode. However, for specification purposes, these chapters will present an implementation of the virtual machine in Smalltalk itself. While this is a somewhat circular proposition, every attempt has been made to ensure that no details are hidden as a result."
p568 "Smalltalk-80: The Language and Its implementation" 1983
https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/FreeBooks/BlueBook/Blueboo...
"To check the accuracy and the clarity of the first book, we invited a number of groups outside of Xerox to build implementations of the Smalltalk-80 system. Those groups uncovered problems with the written description, and with the system itself, which we then corrected. … Paul McCullough of Tektronix suggested that all of the implementors submit papers describing their experiences to a software engineering journal or to collect papers from each group into a book form. This book, then, is the outcome of that suggestion."
iv Preface "Smalltalk-80, Bits of History, Words of Advice" 1983
https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/FreeBooks/BitsOfHistory/Bi...