The Java Virtual Machine, derived from the enterprise-staple Java platform, has become home to a host of different languages these days. But it's not only Python and Ruby that have found their way onto the JVM. Smalltalk is making its way there, too.

With open source Redline Smalltalk, developer James Ladd looks to differentiate from other Smalltalk efforts on the JVM, such as Bistro andSmalltalk/JVM. Redline Smalltalk, he said, goes from Smalltalk source code to directly generating and executing JVM byte code at runtime. "With Redline, there is no separate compile cycle as there is with the Java language," Ladd said in an email. "You can also integrate at the byte code level with any other code on the JVM. Eventually, all that you expect from a Smalltalk will be supported by Redline."

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