[lively-kernel] Modularity, portability, GitHub

[Fabian Bornhofen]

Hi -

two weeks ago, Robert, Lauritz and I started to refactor parts of the
Lively Kernel. The idea is to modularize the code base and to answer
the question "What is the kernel in 'Lively Kernel'?". Moving the core
components of LK to a GitHub repository will allow for easier
synchronization of core code in different LK installations. We hope
that encouraging people to experiment with the most basic things in
Lively will speed up development and help us gain some momentum.

Some changes have already gone live in Webwerkstatt.

What did we do?
We ...
- put the core/ folder on github: https://github.com/rksm/LivelyKernel
- removed PartsBin from core/
- removed a bunch of things that did not appear to be 'core' either
(there might be more)
- moved tests for each submodule into the respective module's test/ folder
- made naming more consistent ('AST' -> 'ast')
- introduced lively.lang and lively.morphic.Graphics
- added an simple test environment

If you encounter any problems with your existing parts or modules that
could have to do with these refactorings, please let us know.

We have yet to introduce a more formalized process of how to port
changes from Webwerkstatt into the GitHub repository. We will probably
make an announcement about that soon. Meanwhile, we invite you to
follow or fork us on GitHub, let us know what you think and, of
course, report any issues you find.

Best,
Fabian