OpenJDK community has a new project, Multi-Language VM (or just mlvm). It is announced by John Rose, from Sun, on the announcement list. The focus of the project will be to prototype JVM features beneficial for dynamic languages and remove “pain points” that current dynamic language developers have with standard JVM.
Here’s the snippet from the announcement:
This project will be open for prototyping JVM features aimed at efficiently supporting languages other than Java.
The emphasis will be on completing the existing bytecode and execution architecture with general purpose extensions, as opposed to a new feature for just one language, or adjoining an unrelated new execution model.
The emphasis will also be on work which removes “pain points” already observed by implementors of successful or influential languages, as opposed to more speculative work on unproven features or niche languages.
It is definitely a step in the right direction for making Java a true multi-language development platform.