This project's aims are two-fold: on one hand the aim is to run Scheme (and potentially similar languages like JavaScript) in various environments with full support for runtime typing and interactive development, first-class continuations and tail-call optimization, and good debugging. On the other hand, to compile languages based on s-expressions and access to Scheme in the macro level to the host language of the targeted environment (JavaScript, C, perhaps C++, Rust), in a way that does not offer these features. It is the aim to make use of the latter for parts of the implementation of the former.
See plan and javascript-plan.
The resulting Scheme implementation aims for the following features:
- full support for first-class continuations and tail-call optimization, good debugging support
- precise garbage collection with low latency
- allow lexical life time analysis of variables, early letting go of references
- compile time warnings about unbound variables
- relatively efficient execution for an interpreter
- efficient loading and linking (fast startup times) once bytecode is implemented
- be able to convert (core language <-> byte code) -> some JIT implementations