Introduction to the Hotdog Scheme Compiler

There has been a booming interest among members of industry in object-oriented programming and virtual machine technology. Sun's introduction of the Java [3] programming language has gradually led programmers to write vast libraries for the Java Virtual Machine [5]. Other companies have built compatible Java Virtual Machines, porting them to more and more platforms. From supercomputers to embedded devices, Java appears to be everywhere. Not to be outdone, Microsoft has developed a competing language, C# [1], and virtual machine, .NET CLR [2], which will certainly draw lots of programmers and industry support. In the future, software development is sure to be dominated by these two languages and virtual machines.

With so much happening in industry, it would be prudent for other language communities to come along for the ride. The Hotdog compiler aims to compile the Scheme [4] programming language to both virtual machines. This would immediately make Scheme portable across a vast range of devices and operating systems. Furthermore, it would give Scheme programmers access to an enormous and still growing library of code. Finally, Scheme programs will share in the progressive performance improvements made by virtual machine technology. Both the Java Virtual Machine and the .NET Common Language Runtime offer convenient , though imperfect, platforms for the Scheme language.