Étoilé: Powerful. Beautiful. Open.

Runtime

The Étoilé runtime can be found in subversion at:

http://svn.gna.org/svn/etoile/branches/libobjc_tr/code.

Key features include:

  • Two layer model, with Self-like object model at the core and classes built on top.
  • Very small code base (roughly 10% of the size of the GNU runtime)
  • Support for @synchronized on all objects / classes.
  • Concrete protocols, mixins and Smalltalk-style traits.
  • Prototype-based object orientation (can be mixed with class-based; classes really are just another kind of object in this runtime)
  • Safe method caching (including polymorphic inline caching) with low overhead.
  • Fast accessor methods (we can implement properties that are much faster than Apple's)

Work is underway to support the Étoilé runtime with the LLVM compiler infrastructure. If you would like to help with this, or work on GCC support, please send an email to our mailing list.