SqueakJS: a modern and practical smalltalk that runs in any browser

Abstract

We report our experience in implementing SqueakJS, a bit-compatible implementation of Squeak/Smalltalk written in pure JavaScript. SqueakJS runs entirely in the Web browser with a virtual filesystem that can be directed to a server or client-side storage. Our implementation is notable for simplicity and performance gained through adaptation to the host object memory and deployment leverage gained through the Lively Web development environment. We present several novel techniques as well as performance measurements for the resulting virtual machine. Much of this experience is potentially relevant to preserving other dynamic language systems and making them available in a browser-based environment.