[Mono-devel-list] Using Mono and IKVM.NET as a Helma runtime

[Asbjørn Ulsberg]

First I just have to apologize the Helma mailing list for all the re-sent  
messages about this subject, but I now hope that I've found the right Mono  
mailing list and will receive some answers. Many thanks to the Helma  
mailing list for their patience.

I am posting this message both to the Mono[1] and Helma[2] mailing lists  
because they concern both, so first, I'd like to introduce both lists to  
each other:

   Mono is a comprehensive open source development platform based on the  
.NET
   framework that allows developers to build Linux and cross-platform
   applications with unprecedented productivity.

   Helma [...] is a scriptable open source web application server written in
   Java.

These descriptions are just copied off of each project's web pages.

I've been briefly discussing the issue of Helma not being a (stable)  
Apache module on the Helma mailing list, and got some response from Hannes  
Wallnoefer. He explained that there is ongoing effort to have Helma run as  
a native Apache module, namely Mod-GCJ[3]. As a sort of «challenge» to  
this project, I asked if mod_mono couldn't be used instead.

The benefits I see from using mod_mono as an Apache module for both Mono's  
ASP.NET and Helma, is that just one codebase needs to be developed. More  
people working on one project usually makes that project better, than if  
the team is split in two and working on their separate projects.

And as I wrote on the Helma list: «What's so brilliant about this, that I  
don't even know how to express it, is that you'd not only be able to run  
the heaps of existing Java code, but you'd be able to run all existing  
(and hopefully future) .NET code as well!»

I also think that mod_mono is far more complete than Mod-GCJ, which will  
benefit Helma greatly. Mono, again, will benefit from having Helma as a  
dependent project, since Mono then will be more used, and thus more bugs  
will be discovered, etc. As Helma is a dynamic scripting language  
environment, it will bring Mono to its test with performance as well,  
which Mono in the long run will benefit greatly from.

But before pursuing this path, Hannes Wallnoefer had some questions I  
couldn't answer, which is why I post this to the Mono mailing list:

   Does Mono have a native JScript implementation?

   I'm a bit sceptical about the performance characteristics of Mono and  
IKVM.NET.
   What is the memory footprint and startup time of a simple Hello World  
IKVM.NET
   program?

   You won't write a PHP replacement if this is equal or worse than  
ordinary Java
   VMs. On a gut level, I think that Mono isn't what I'm looking, but I  
might be
   wrong.

Is it possible to prove Hannes Wallnoefer wrong, or isn't Mono, mod_mono  
and IKVM.NET fast enough to handle Helma at this point? What do you, the  
developers of Mono, think? Is mod_mono a good alternative?

____
[1] <url: http://www.mono-project.com/>
[2] <url: http://www.helma.org/>
[3] <url: http://mod-gcj.sourceforge.net/>

--
Asbjørn Ulsberg         -=|=-        asbjornu at hotmail.com
«He's a loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't look away»