Re: Re: [scala] Scalandroid

everyone is talking about Android. the thing is, if
Android maintains all the specifications, nothing
should go wrong theoretically.

but, it looks like it is a different virtual machine
altogether. with a promise that it will not let Java
classes feel the difference.

on a relevant note, my question is this: suppose we
make a virtual machine (like Android). also, let's
suppose we interpret Java class files. if Android can
do that, I think IP isn't really the problem here. I'm
not so keen on legal issues anyway.

but the question is: what would be the key
modification/enhancement that would favor Scala-style
programming?

my first impression was that it would take functions a
little more seriously. but I think it is somewhat
misleading. functions seem to be doing fine being
objects. is there any possibility of significant
performance enhancement if functions are represented
differently in a bytecode convention?

I suspect the more effective way would be to take
generics seriously. somewhat along the lines of the
.NET machine. if theoretically it can be guaranteed
that some casts never fail (which, should be the case)
then a VM can take advantage of that. Scala's very
advanced type system, I think, does not get the
performance tuning it deserves. it's somewhat like
compiling a typed-lambda-calculus language to an
untyped one.

this is not a suggestion email, by the way. I just
want to know what's the case. I think a language like
Haskell gets most of its performance boost from
term-rewriting, which is almost impossible, or, I
think, unwise, to do in Scala. helpful people
enlighten me.

cheers,
Imam



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