Abstract The implementation of a virtual machine for X2, an object‐based programming language, is presented. The X2 virtual machine, is similar to the Smalltalk‐80 virtual machine, but X2 does not perform message look‐up. The implementation differs from most Smalitalk‐80 systems in that objects are paged and in the ability to save changes to an image instead of the whole image. These differences allow larger images to be handled.

Smalltalk-80 obtains some of its expressive power from arranging classes in a hierarchy. Inheritance is an important aspect of this hierarchy. An alternative organization of classes is proposed that emphasizes description instead of inheritance. This alternative can be used with compile-time type checking and retains the important characteristics of Smalltalk's hierarchy.

Article Free Access Share on Lithe: a language combining a flexible syntax and classes Author: David Sandberg University of Washington, Seattle, WA University of Washington, Seattle, WAView Profile Authors Info & Claims POPL '82: Proceedings of the 9th ACM SIGPLAN-SIGACT symposium on Principles of programming languagesJanuary 1982Pages 142–145https://doi.org/10.1145/582153.582169Published:25 January 1982Publication History 11citation369DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations11Total Downloads369Last 12 Months34Last 6 weeks4 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF