[offtopic] distributed scripting language (was: Re: [Nel] Distributed server algo)

David Mentre David.Mentre@irisa.fr
30 Nov 2000 08:59:54 +0100


Thierry Mallard <thierry@mallard.com> writes:

> I'm now trying to implement a STAGE server (see projet Worldforge[1]),
> with the help of Mickael Remond, using Erlang[2], a functionnal
> language which does has nice features about distribution.

You could also have a look at Objective Caml[1]. It is a functionnal
language (ML style with type inference for those interested) but with
modules and object oriented capabilities. It has not pre-build
distributed facilities but toolkits have been built on it, like
Ensemble[2].

On Erlang, one thing to notice is that reliability is in charge of the
programmer. But maybe your are involved in some other projects using
Erlang. ;)

>  Maybe that could be worth a look, although I'm still not sure an
> interpreted language is really usable for something like NeL or
> STAGE...

OCaml can be compiled in both bytecode and native code for about any
platform (from ARM to Alpha through x86 [2b]). And people have made
hacks to dynamically load bytecode and native code into
programs[3]. Also notice that bytecode is portable across platforms.

Sorry if it is a bit of topic, but I could not resist for this blatant
advertising. ;) And maybe NeL will have more that just Python support...

Best regards,
d.

[1] http://caml.inria.fr/
[2] http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/Projects/Ensemble/index.html
[2b] http://caml.inria.fr/ocaml/portability.html
[3] http://caml.inria.fr/archives/200011/msg00180.html
-- 
 David.Mentre@irisa.fr -- http://www.irisa.fr/prive/dmentre/
 Opinions expressed here are only mine.