33eff7c7d8
Rename src/jolt -> stdlib (the runtime-loaded layer; jolt-core stays the seed-baked layer) and update the loader / emit-image / doc paths. Drop dead code: the spike/ experiments, the duplicate clojuredocs-export.edn (json moves to tools/), the Janet-era jolt.http binding, and the orphaned persistent_vector.clj whose ns/path didn't even match. Strip porting residue from comments and docstrings across host/chez, jolt-core, stdlib, tests, and docs: internal issue ids, "Phase N" markers, and the "vs Janet" historical exposition, leaving present-tense descriptions and the real JVM-Clojure semantic contrasts. Same pass over the corpus suite labels. The seed is unchanged (docstrings/comments aren't emitted), so the self-host fixpoint and corpus are untouched. Port tools/spec_coverage.py off the dead janet probe to bin/joltc and regenerate coverage.md; drop the dead :host/janet rule from certify.clj and regenerate the conformance profile. Add docs/host-interop.md (the JVM shims and how to register your own host class from a library) and a writing-style note in CLAUDE.md. Stabilize the four racy concurrency corpus cases (future-cancel and agent send/send-off): give the future a sleeping body and the agent a slow action, so cancel reliably catches an in-flight future and deref reliably reads the pre-update snapshot. They certify deterministically now, so drop their :flaky allowlist entries and the orphaned legend. |
||
|---|---|---|
| .github/workflows | ||
| bench | ||
| bin | ||
| docs | ||
| host/chez | ||
| img | ||
| jolt-core | ||
| stdlib | ||
| test | ||
| tools | ||
| vendor | ||
| .DS_Store | ||
| .gitignore | ||
| .gitmodules | ||
| AGENTS.md | ||
| CLAUDE.md | ||
| LICENSE | ||
| Makefile | ||
| README.md | ||
Jolt
A Clojure implementation on Chez Scheme.
Jolt reads Clojure source, analyzes it to a host-neutral IR, emits Scheme, and
runs it on Chez. The compiler is self-hosted: it is written in Clojure
(jolt-core/) and compiles itself. It ships a Clojure-compatible standard library.
Requirements
Only Chez Scheme (the gate invokes it as
chez). The conformance gate additionally uses Clojure on the JVM as an oracle,
but running jolt does not.
Build
There is no build step. The bootstrap seed (host/chez/seed/{prelude,image}.ss)
is checked in, so a fresh clone runs immediately:
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/jolt-lang/jolt.git
cd jolt
bin/joltc -e '(+ 1 2)' # => 3
After changing a compiler source — the reader (host/chez/reader.ss), the
analyzer/IR/backend (jolt-core/jolt/*.clj), or the clojure.core overlay
(jolt-core/clojure/core/*.clj) — re-mint the seed:
make remint # iterates host/chez/bootstrap.ss to a byte-fixpoint
Run
bin/joltc -e EXPR # evaluate a Clojure expression and print the result
$ bin/joltc -e '(->> (range 10) (filter even?) (map (fn [x] (* x x))) (reduce +))'
120
$ bin/joltc -e '(/ 1 2)'
1/2
Architecture
A small Chez runtime (host/chez/*.ss: value model, persistent collections, seqs,
vars/namespaces, host interop) hosts a portable Clojure overlay split across two
source roots by when they load:
jolt-core/is baked into the seed — the compiler (jolt-core/jolt/: reader/analyzer/IR/backend, plusjolt.main/jolt.deps) andclojure.corein dependency-ordered tiers (jolt-core/clojure/core/NN-*.clj). Changing anything here means re-minting the seed.stdlib/loads lazily at runtime off the source roots — the rest of the standard library (clojure.string/set/walk/edn/pprint/…) plus thejolt.ffihost library. Editing these needs no re-mint.
bin/joltc loads the checked-in seed and the spine, then compiles and evaluates on
Chez (read → analyze → IR → emit → eval). host/chez/bootstrap.ss rebuilds that
seed from source on pure Chez; the build is a self-hosting fixpoint (a rebuild
reproduces the checked-in seed byte-for-byte).
Differences from Clojure
Jolt targets Clojure semantics but runs on Chez, not the JVM.
- Host platform. No JVM, no reflection, no
gen-class/proxyof Java classes. Interop syntax (Class.,Class/static,.method) works against a shimmed subset of thejava.*standard library, and a class token resolves to a name. See docs/host-interop.md for what's covered and how to register your own host classes from a library. - Numbers. The full Scheme numeric tower, matching the JVM: exact integers and
bignums, exact ratios (
(/ 1 2)⇒1/2), and flonum doubles.=is category-aware ((= 3 3.0)⇒false);==is value-equality ((== 3 3.0)⇒true).integer?/int?are exact integers,float?/double?are flonums,ratio?is an exact non-integer. NoBigDecimal(decimal?is always false). - Concurrency.
future/promise/agent/pmaprun on real OS threads over a shared heap, matching JVM semantics (not isolated-heap snapshots). Atoms use a per-atom mutex with JVM-style CAS.clojure.core.asyncprovides blocking channels andgo/<!/>!/alts!/timeout. - Regex. Backed by irregex (vendored), PCRE/Java-style patterns.
- Collections. Immutable persistent vectors, cons lists, and HAMT maps/sets.
Hash-map/hash-set iteration order is unspecified — use
sorted-map/sorted-setwhen order matters. Transients are real mutable scratch collections.
Supported and Clojure-compatible: lazy/infinite sequences, transducers,
destructuring, multimethods with hierarchies, protocols/records
(deftype/defrecord/reify/extend-protocol), metadata, namespaces, runtime
eval/load-string/defmacro, and the reader (#(), #_, #?, tagged literals,
#"…").
Test
make test # the full gate
make corpus # conformance corpus vs the JVM-sourced spec
make unit # host-specific unit cases
make selfhost # bootstrap fixpoint (rebuild == checked-in seed)
make smoke # bin/joltc CLI smoke
make sci # load borkdude/sci's source through joltc (compat stress)
make ffi # HTTP-server GC-safety + http-client temp paths
make transient # transient mutation + linear-time builds
make certify # JVM oracle (skips if clojure is absent)
The conformance corpus (test/chez/corpus.edn) is a host-neutral language spec
whose expected values are sourced from reference JVM Clojure. See
test/conformance/SPEC.md.