Lang.Net 2006 Compiler Symposium Wrap Up

The Lang.Net 2006 Compiler Symposium was held in Redmond on July 31-August 2nd.

The videos of the screen casts we made during the presentations at Lang.Net 2006 are now available at: https://www.langnetsymposium.com/speakers.asp

The on-site experience at Lang.Net 2006 was exciting and now the talks are available if you were unable to attend or you just want to get even more out of the presentations.

There were numerous articles in the press which are summarized below.

We enjoyed having everyone at Lang.Net 2006 and look forward to seeing you again at Lang.Net 2007.

Summary of News on the Lang.NET 2006 Compiler Symposium

August 22, 2006

Jack Vaughan

TheServerSide.NET

https://www.theserverside.net/news/thread.tss?thread_id=41834&asrc=EM_NLN_475357

Michael Lehman and Erik Meijer spoke to Jack Vaughan, TheServerSide.NET, last week regarding the Lang.NET 2006 Symposium. Michael and Erik did a great job talking about the level of innovation evident in the presentations and the enthusiasm demonstrated by the participants, and this is reflected in the final piece. Quotes from Erik also focus attention on the importance of language choice on .NET and the CLR as a multi-language platform. (from Lindsay Berg at WaggEd).

Microsoft Phasing in Support for Dynamic Languages on .Net

Darryl K. Taft

eWeek

August 9, 2006

https://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2001143,00.asp

VB and Dynamic Languages

Given that we are not ready to talk about formal plans for changes that will make Visual Basic behave more like a dynamic language, the event required some caution around this topic. All Microsoft spokespeople were very careful not to make promises in this area, and the effort appears to have been successful. Darryl concludes: “Hugunin demonstrated how, with simple changes in the code, Visual Basic could be made to behave like a dynamic language. ‘But that’s just, at the moment, an experiment,’ he said with a smile.”

Community Response

Response to information about Microsoft’s expanding commitment to dynamic languages has been neutral to positive thus far. Ars Technica, a widely-read blog that focuses on the developer space, also posted today on the significance of recent information from both Microsoft and Sun about their dynamic languages strategies: https://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060810-7462.html. The blog post comments: “Managed language platforms have a lot to offer modern dynamic languages, particularly performance (IronPython is one and a half times faster than the standard Python implementation in some contexts), interoperability, and broader library support.”

Phalanger Coverage

Microsoft Hosts Project to Run PHP on .Net

Darryl K. Taft

August 10, 2006

https://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2001865,00.asp

Darryl posted a straightforward article detailing the Phalanger project and its goals. Jim Hugunin is quoted briefly, reinforcing the impression that all of the .NET dynamic languages work will ultimately converge.

Microsoft Fostering .Net Support for Dynamic Languages

Mary Jo Foley

August 10, 2006

https://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,1995,2002016,00.asp?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535

“Microsoft is cutting its dynamic-language teeth with IronPython and using that knowledge to improve support for all kinds of dynamic languages. Speaking of dynamic languages, Microsoft is hosting the development of a PHP compiler for the .Net Framework – codenamed "Phalanger" -- on its CodePlex code repository site.”

Previous Lang.NET 2006 Symposium Coverage

Sun Digging Deep for Dynamic Language Support

Darryl K. Taft, eWeek

August 1, 2006

https://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1997386,00.asp

Darryl provides an overview of Gilad Bracha's session at the Lang.NET event, summarizing Bracha's comments on developing support for dynamic languages and emphasizing Sun's general commitment to expanding language options on the Java platform.

New Compiler Enables Ruby to Run on .Net

Darryl K. Taft, eWeek

July 31, 2006

https://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1996960,00.asp

Darryl outlines the content of a talk given by John Gough and Wayne Kelly of the Queensland University of Technology. The talk centered on work done by the pair to make Ruby run on the CLR and the structural elements of the Ruby language that present problems for this effort.