Notices by clacke: inhibited exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛 (clacke@libranet.de), page 58

> Parrot is designed with the needs of dynamically typed languages (such as Perl and Python) in mind, and should be able to run programs written in these languages more efficiently than VMs developed with static languages in mind (JVM, .NET). Parrot is also designed to provide interoperability between languages that compile to it. In theory, you will be able to write a class in Perl, subclass it in Python and then instantiate and use that subclass in a Tcl program.

> Historically, Parrot started out as the runtime for Perl 6. Unlike Perl 5, the Perl 6 compiler and runtime (VM) are to be much more clearly separated. The name Parrot was chosen after the 2001 April Fool's Joke which had Perl and Python collaborating on the next version of their languages. The name reflects the intention to build a VM to run not just Perl 6, but also many other languages.

parrot.github.io/parrot-docs6/…

The latest and probably last post on the Parrot homepage, three years ago, somewhat supports my claim on what the VM was for and confirms that it is no longer active.

"The Parrot VM is no longer being actively developed.

Last commit: 2017-10-02
[ . . . ]
Parrot, as potential VM for other dynamic languages, never supplanted the existing VMs of those languages."

parrot.org/news/inactive-parro…

Re: nu.federati.net/notice/3435490

@LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}

Apparently a "key party" may or may not have been a real thing, where swingers would use their car keys as lottery tickets when picking a partner.

sfweekly.com/archives/did-key-…

I'm now 99% convinced this is what inspired the name "key signing party".

@LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} The way I remember it, ParrotVM was highly generalized and was supposed to support generic language development, and Perl 6 was supposed to be written in a language-writing language on top of a Parrot "assembly". People wrote almost-implementations of Python, Ruby and other languages for it. In the end though, nothing became fully ready for use.

That's why it stalled for years, and Rakudo and MoarVM was the "fine, whatever, we'll just write Perl 6" solution that actually managed to release something.

I'll try to find the receipts for my claims.

I think you are right that ParrotVM is an ex-Parrot, for the above reasons. But beautiful plumage!

@Jamey Sharp Cool! I would be happy to be shown wrong. I'll take your word for it, give it the benefit of the doubt, and I'll try to dig around a bit* for the actual design constraints.

* at some point 😅

👆 What's the state of virtual and abstract machine theory and practice today?

#VM #VirtualMachine #MI #MachineInterface #wasm #wasi #uxn #uxntal #PCode #OCode #JVM #CLR #LLVM

- Wasm, just no, it's a strongly path-dependent outgrowth of whatever JS happened to look like, and then optimized to asm.js and mutated from there, or am I wrong?

- Uxn is more written for easy and fun of implementing and writing for, I think? Performance and versatility for general-purpose computing isn't really a goal?

- FCode + OpenFirmware probably does well, but is also based more on what's familiar and available and works, rather than theoretical foundations?

- Pascal-P and Pascal-S p-code and BCPL O-code are (1) early and (2) language-specific

- Too many other highly language-coupled VMs to mention

- IBM i / AS/400 / System/38's Machine Interface was made in 1978 before we knew many of the things we know about language and machine design today

- The JVM was made specifically for Java, even though it has mutated into supporting other paradigms

- I wouldn't be surprised if the CLR were actually backed by research like this, but does somebody here know?

- ParrotVM was made for hosting a range of language paradigms but, happy to be proven wrong, I'm kind of assuming it was designed (1) from craftsmanship, gut feeling and artistry rather than theory, and (2) not so much toward implementation efficiency

- LLVM IL, maybe? Research-based compiler with strong theoretical foundations, a focus on efficiency and hosting multiple languages, but maybe mot with an eye toward a durable and standardized representation?

Has research been done on what an interpreted or compiled virtual machine language and model "should" look like? For whatever weighted factors of efficient implementation, suitable target for compilation from multiple paradigms of languages, etc.

Candidate examples with comments to follow:

> Irving's writings on Columbus are a mixture of history and fiction, a genre now called romantic history. Irving based them on extensive research in the Spanish archives, but also added imaginative elements aimed at sharpening the story. The first of these works is the source of the durable myth that medieval Europeans believed the Earth was flat. According to the popular book, Columbus proved the Earth was round.

*shakes fist*

Curse you, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washingt… !

Jared Bush, in the lead up to Encanto:

> So excited to announce the return of one of my favorite people, @DisneyAnimation’s good luck charm himself, @AlanTudyk!! I’ve written him as a weasel and a chicken… but now behold… our enthusiastic… but clueless toucan, Pico!

farside.link/nitter/thejaredbu…

Jewel Staite later, after the movie was released:

> Wait. Are you the damn bird? Of course you are.

farside.link/nitter/JewelStait…

Alan Tudyk is the Frank Welker of the next 40 years. 🥰

#AlanTudyk

Aha, she came out as a woman now. I haven't paid much attention in the last two years. Last time I knew, she was a glamorous guy.

"Endigo came out as non-binary in 2022 and used they/she/he pronouns. In 2023, Endigo announced on Instagram that she is dating Alison "Kawaiiconic" Jones. In November 2023, Endigo came out as a transgender woman."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endigo

#endigo

@Kermode The first season was better for sure. The whole premise was better than the execution and the first few episodes were the most interesting because of that.

But I'm still invested. I take what Tudyk media I can. This show would be a complete nothing without his body language.

> DR. FRANKENSTEIN: I'm just saying, it's a very misleading flyer

> BODY BUILDING COMPETITION JUDGE: again, we can only apologise

farside.link/nitter/SJKSalisbu…

@Brie Mmm Classic. 🥰

With English subtitles here:

farside.link/invidious/watch?v…

youtube.com/watch?v=TJYOkZz6Dc…

The only public transport PSA anyone has ever remembered 11 years after it was published:

Metro Trains Melbourne: "Dumb Ways to Die"

Kid loved the associated macabre mobile minigames and used to play them while e.g. waiting for food.

farside.link/invidious/watch?v…

youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0j…