Sun buys Java compiler technology based upon Self!!!

[keith@uniteq.com (Keith Hankin)]

Sun has just announced that they are buying Animorphic Systems, which for the 
last 2+ years has been developing JIT compiler technology for Java and 
Smalltalk.  And, guess what?  It's based upon the Self project!!!

Congratulations to the Self team.  I always knew you had extremely
hot compiler technology.  Below is an outtake of Anamorphic's press release:

Animorphic Systems

Technology Preview: Performance!

Animorphic Systems' new HotSpot(TM) virtual-machine technology for Smalltalk and
Java(TM) represents the biggest commercial
performance breakthrough ever for advanced object-oriented languages. Working in
secret for over two years, Animorphic Systems
has applied advanced research ideas, including those from Sun Microsystems' Self 
project, to produce performance increases of
3.5-5 for Smalltalk, and more than 2 for Java, compared to the best commercial 
compilers currently available. The HotSpot virtual
machines will be made commercially available through a major vendor. Finally, 
you won't have to trade-off productivity for performance!

Highlights 

Over 90% of dynamic message-sends are eliminated by an advanced inlining global
optimizer. Programs are monitored invisibly
as they run to detect performance-sensitive regions, which are immediately 
adaptively optimized or reoptimized on-the-fly

based on how the program is used. 

Not only are the HotSpot virtual machines far faster than any other, their 
relative performance is actually better for higher-level
(more reusable) code. This represents a major breakthrough in reusability: using 
HotSpot technology, there is no longer any
incentive to avoid writing highly factored programs that extensively use 
fine-grain methods (accessor methods, etc.), Smalltalk

blocks, and other structuring techniques that are expensive in existing systems. 
On a HotSpot virtual-machine, these techniques are essentially free! 

The first commercial non-disruptive garbage-collector (GC) for long-lived 
objects. No more GC pauses! 
    
HotSpot Databases can be used to record optimization information in a compact, 
portable form for repeatable performance across sessions. 

Strongtalk(TM), an industrial-strength type system for Smalltalk. Strongtalk can 
be used incrementally, as little or as much as

you like, to make your Smalltalk programs easier to understand, test, and 
reorganize. Because Strongtalk is completely optional
and independent of the virtual-machine, untyped and typed programs experience 
exactly the same performance. 

Native thread support and asynchronous DLL C call-out and call-in. 

To register for our mailing list, send email to info@animorphic.com

Smalltalk Benchmarks ran on Pentium Pro 150MHz under Windows NT 4.0 using
ParcPlace VisualWorks 2.0 and IBM Smalltalk 3.0a. Java Benchmarks
ran on Pentium 90MHz under Windows NT 4.0 using Borland 5.0, Microsoft Internet
Explorer 3.0 and the lastest and only implementation of Asymetrix.

HotSpot(TM) and Strongtalk(TM) are trademarks of LongView Technologies L.L.C. 
and Animorphic Systems.
Java(TM) is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the US and other countries.

Copyright by LongView Technologies L.L.C. and Animorphic Systems, 1996. All 
rights reserved.

P.S. Is the Animorphic team composed of the original Self team members, and is
this why the Self project was halted?