The Lively Kernel

Google Tech Talks
January, 24 2008

ABSTRACT

The Sun Labs Lively Kernel is a new approach to web programming. It provides a complete platform for web applications, including dynamic graphics, network access, and development tools, and requires nothing more than available web browsers. We call the system lively for three reasons:

It comes live off a web page. There is no installation. The entire system is written in JavaScript, and it becomes active as soon as the page is loaded by a browser.

It can change itself and create new content. The Lively Kernel includes a basic graphics editor that allows it to alter and create new graphical content, and also a simple IDE that allows it to alter and create new applications. It comes with a basic library of graphical and computational components, and these, as well as the kernel, can be altered and extended on the fly.

It can save new artifacts, even clone itself, onto new web pages. The kernel includes WebDav support for browsing and extending remote file systems, and thus has the ability to save its objects and "worlds" (applications) as new active web pages.

The Lively Kernel uses only existing web standards. The implementation and user language is JavaScript, known by millions and supported in every browser. The graphics APIs are built upon SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), also available in major browsers. The network protocols used are asynchronous HTTP and WebDav.

The Lively Kernel is being made available as Open Source software under a GPL license. While it is not ready for use as a product, we expect significant participation from adventurous developers and academia.
http://research.sun.com/projects/lively/

Speaker: Dan Ingalls
Dan Ingalls is the principal architect of five generations of Smalltalk environments, culminating in the release of Squeak, an open-source Smalltalk system written in itself. He designed the byte-coded virtual machine that made Smalltalk practical in 1976. He invented BitBlt, the general-purpose graphical operation that underlies most bitmap graphics systems today, and also pop-up menus. He has received the ACM Grace Hopper Award for Outstanding Young Scientist, and the ACM Software Systems Award.

Dan is currently at Sun Microsystems where he is working on the Lively Kernel, a self-supporting computing kernel that lives on a web page and requires no installation.

Dan Received his B.A. in Physics from Harvard University, and his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Speaker: Krzysztof Palacz
Krzysztof Palacz is a researcher at Sun Labs, where he is currently
working on the Lively Kernel, a zero-installation, self-supporting Web-
based programming environment and user interface system.

Previously Krzysztof worked on virtual machine implementation, he co-
designed the Ovm virtual machine and developed high-level
communication mechanisms and clustering extensions for the
Multitasking Virtual Machine from Sun Labs.

Krzysztof received a M.S. in Physics and a M.S in Computer Science
from Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland and his Ph.D. in
Computer Science from Purdue University.

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[magetoo]

Really interesting.

I'm looking forward to the day when this sort of thing works in all browsers, and all the user-created things we're going to see then.

[dibble676t76]

I think he was being a gentleman towards someone not as brilliant as him :-)

[adelle0001]

nice speech!

[panesofg]

Funny ... the question related to Squeak/Smalltalk seems best answered in the fact that the approach Smalltalk took would be best served by the browser model.

[bhell2]

Thanks for making this, I've had it in my head this should be the way forward but now I see how it is done. Brilliant.

[t4cio]

The questions were so harsh, I wouldn't want to be in their place. Dan expected questions like "show me more of this, show me more of that" and all he got was "This will never go mainstream for reasons a, b and c". Felt sorry for them, I'd really would like this kind of thing to be largely adopted.

[odiousominious]

SVG with java

[IcarusFlying]

this is kinda like thepalace, an old graphical chat

[flowewritharoma]

really awesome.

[flowewritharoma]

Lively Kernel may be a root of computer.

[adognamedsally]

@esepecesito Yes well, if certain people didn't aimlessly goof around, we would not have many of the cool innovative things that we take for granted right now. It is always possible to refine and hone technology toward specific ends after development. The systems that are currently in place may have started out the same way.

[esepecesito]

As everything SUN does, has no theorical background... just to guys goofing arond, having fun, and producing only buggy unuseful soft... the dont know were are they going, don´t know what the dam thing is good for... no f** idea of a business model... hey guys, go to work and read a little bit before you make a public ridiculous...