> I think SynthesisOS (an operating system, not a programming language) could pull that off to a degree (the kernel was JIT'ed and therefore, customized system calls could be developed).
I keep meaning to spend more time looking at SynthesisOS [1] - it deserves more attention. The JIT'ing as a means to speed up system functions by specialising them could be useful all over the place, and I think one of the most important contributions is that it doesn't need to be done everywhere - you can specialise JIT'ing of very small portions of hot codepaths and get a lot of the benefit at very low cost.
For those not familiar with Synthesis, chapter 3 of [1] is a good place for a quick summary of the techniques used. Section 3.3.1 gives concrete examples.
(The old Amiga user in me is very pleased Synthesis used M68k - makes the assembler examples very nostalgic...)
I keep meaning to spend more time looking at SynthesisOS [1] - it deserves more attention. The JIT'ing as a means to speed up system functions by specialising them could be useful all over the place, and I think one of the most important contributions is that it doesn't need to be done everywhere - you can specialise JIT'ing of very small portions of hot codepaths and get a lot of the benefit at very low cost.
For those not familiar with Synthesis, chapter 3 of [1] is a good place for a quick summary of the techniques used. Section 3.3.1 gives concrete examples.
(The old Amiga user in me is very pleased Synthesis used M68k - makes the assembler examples very nostalgic...)
[1] Synthesis: An Efficient Implementation of Fundamental Operating System Services Alexia Massalin - http://valerieaurora.org/synthesis/SynthesisOS/