d33277c0b2
The line REPL was broken (read-line called nil — the __stdin-read-line host seam the clojure.core *in* reader drives was never implemented on Chez) and didn't load the project, so (require '[some.lib]) failed. Now: - __stdin-read-line reads a line from stdin (get-line); read-line / read / the REPL work. - repl resolves the project first (deps on the roots, native libs loaded), so libraries are available — same context a run gets. - jolt.nrepl: a jolt-native nREPL server (bencode over a loopback jolt.ffi socket) speaking the real protocol — clone / describe / eval / load-file / close, with stdout capture, :ns-scoped eval (in-ns; binding *ns* doesn't drive load-string resolution here), and real error text. 'joltc nrepl [port]' applies the project then serves; writes .nrepl-port. Editors (CIDER/Calva/Cursive) connect and develop live; project libraries load in the session. - ex-message returns nil for raw Chez conditions, so jolt.host/condition-message exposes the condition text; the REPL and nREPL surface it instead of an opaque #<compound condition>. Why native, not real nREPL: nrepl.server is welded to java.util.concurrent executors, two compiled Java helper classes, a DynamicClassLoader, Compiler internals and a JVMTI agent — not faithfully shimmable. The wire protocol, which is what clients depend on, is small and implemented directly. Runtime .ss + jolt-core, no re-mint. Full gate green. |
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|---|---|---|
| .github/workflows | ||
| bench | ||
| bin | ||
| docs | ||
| host/chez | ||
| img | ||
| jolt-core | ||
| spike/chez | ||
| src/jolt | ||
| test | ||
| tools | ||
| vendor | ||
| .DS_Store | ||
| .gitignore | ||
| .gitmodules | ||
| AGENTS.md | ||
| CLAUDE.md | ||
| clojuredocs-export.edn | ||
| clojuredocs-export.json | ||
| 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 (jolt-core/): the
reader/analyzer/IR/backend (jolt-core/jolt/) and clojure.core in
dependency-ordered tiers (jolt-core/clojure/core/NN-*.clj). The stdlib namespaces
(clojure.string/set/walk/edn/pprint/…) are portable Clojure under
src/jolt/clojure/.
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 and no Java interop —
import,gen-class,proxyof Java classes, andjava.*are unavailable. A class token resolves to a name; a small set of host classes is recognized forinstance?. - 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.