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Hobbes – A Language and Embedded JIT Compiler

Hobbes is a language and embedded JIT compiler developed by Morgan Stanley, designed to enable runtime code generation and execution with low-latency performance for financial applications.

Background

- Hobbes is an open-source project from Morgan Stanley that combines a functional programming language with an embedded just-in-time (JIT) compiler, designed to make high-performance computing more accessible within larger applications. - It is aimed at domains like quantitative finance, where analysts and developers need to run fast, numerical computations (e.g., pricing models, risk simulations) without leaving their main programming environment. - The language is embedded inside a host runtime (such as C++ or Python), meaning you can write small, optimized code snippets in Hobbes and have them compiled on the fly, rather than writing separate high-performance code in C/C++ or relying on slower interpreted languages. - Morgan Stanley is a major Wall Street investment bank; its release of Hobbes as open source signals a push to gain broader community contributions and credibility beyond internal use. - The project is named after Thomas Hobbes, the 17th-century philosopher — a subtle allusion to the "state of nature" of code (chaotic, slow) versus the "social contract" of a well-compiled, predictable system.

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