What is Whalesong?

What is Whalesong?

    Whalesong is a compiler from Racket bytecode to JavaScript.


Why would anyone care?

    * Because it allows Racket programs to be deployed on the web.

    * Furthermore, Racket programs can access native JavaScript APIs.

    * Because my previous attempt at this produced a slower evaluator;
    this is much faster.


What do you want to show?

    I want to show the tool in action, programs that use it
       - like World programming, FFI

    I want to show performance numbers (which means benchmarks...)

    I also want to show some of the internals, to show why the
    JavaScript context makes things more complicated.


How do you use it?

    I have a command line tool that consumes Racket programs and
    produces standalone JavaScript applications.

    I'll be using this as the underlying evaluator for WeScheme

       Why?  Performance.


What were the technical advantages of your approach?

    Reusing the Racket compiler.  Strong possibility of reusing most
    of the Racket standard library, as soon as we can bootstrap
    racket/base.

What were some of the technical challenges?

    Supporting the features of the Racket virtual machine (tail calls,
    continuations)


What needs to be done next?

    Adding enough primitives to run racket/base