Thanks for the reply. I am currently thinking of implementing my own "runtime"
system which uses self as the programming language of choice to interface with
the system. I suspect just embedding the current VM given my requirements may
not work that well.

One follow up question (if you don't mind)- is there a changelog detailing the
changes between Self 4.1 (described by the pdf) and Self 4.4? How substantial
are these changes?

Thanks again,

Carter.


--- In self-interest@yahoogroups.com, Russell Allen <mail@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Carter,
>
> I'm not sure that you can ever be 100% safe from patents in the modern
> world...
>
> I can say that it is feasible to create a project with Self's
> optimisation techniques and release it under a OSS licence because that
> is precisely what Self is! As well, a number of OSS and commercial
> virtual machines have incorporated elements from Self's compilation
> strategies over the years, including Google's V8, Strongtalk and the now
> open source Java VM.
>
> (This of course isn't legal advice - if you are doing something
> commercially that might attract the attention of patent trolls then
> consult a good patent attorney twice a day before meals and get plenty
> of healthy outdoors exercise. But that advice applies to everything, not
> just Self :)
>
> Are you thinking of embedding the Self VM itself, or writing a new VM
> from scratch for a Self-like language?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Russell
>
> Carter Cheng wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I have been thinking about doing some implementation work and writing a
> > self like system where self is the embedded language. I am curious to
> > what extent the ideas in self are patented or in the public domain
> > (especially w.r.t. various optimization techniques described in the
> > literature). Is it feasible to undertake such a project and release it
> > under an OSS licence?
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> >
> > Carter.
>