On: Why is Smalltalk Dead?

[pron]

> I wouldn't use a language without a native code compiler

You mean an AOT native code compiler? Is that for ops reasons or what? Because JITs produce better code than AOT compilers (perhaps other than for low-level languages, where there isn't much more to optimize).

[tempodox → pron]

Why does it make a difference? Is there a Smalltalk with JIT-only but no AOT?

But even if, as long as I can't run the binary in Unix, it's pointless.

[pron → tempodox]

> Is there a Smalltalk with JIT-only but no AOT?

I don't know about the current state of Smalltalk, but it definitely has a JIT. Many other languages (JavaScript, all JVM languages) have JITs but not always AOT because a JIT gives much better performance.

But what difference does it make if you get a single native binary file with the runtime statically linked (like Go), or with the runtime in its own shared library (like with the JVM)? In either case you can create a native binary to launch the program if you don't want to run `vm program.file`.