What is the Open Cobalt virtual machine?
The Open Cobalt virtual machine is essentially the same as the Squeak virtual machine. It acts as an interface between Squeak code and the microprocessor. Its written in Slang, a functional subset of Smalltalk that can be translated into standard C. Squeak uses the C language as a cross-platform equivalent of assembly language. Since Slang is a subset of Smalltalk, the Squeak virtual machine can be edited and debugged by running it in Squeak itself. The virtual machine can also be extended with plug-ins that are written in either C or Slang. These are used in Squeak for such things as playing media files and for supporting Squeak’s built in public key encryption abilities.
