As I understand it, Graal+Truffle is basically the DLR. This has been around since 2008 from Microsoft.
Both IronPython and IronRuby have used this for years.
The "Day 1" comment was specifically pointed at the read-between the lines for Graal, which is basically to create a real IL for Java instead of using the InvokeDynamic semantic that is currently envogue for Scala, Clojure, etc. .NET has had the multi-language one VM paradigm since day one.
No, Graal+Truffle, and PyPy for that matter, are light-years ahead of the DLR. That's why IronPython etc. are nowhere near the state of the art of dynamic language performance, while both the JVM and PyPy have multiple dynamic languages on them that meet that criterion.
The fundamental issue is that dynamic languages need JITs that are very aware of their internals. It's not enough to just emit some code interspersed with PICs and to add fast dynamic dispatch. You also need to speculatively compile and deoptimize in a way that is specific to each dynamic language. Without that, IronPython and other dynamic languages on .NET are often not a little slower but 10x slower than the same languages on the JVM or PyPy.
Both IronPython and IronRuby have used this for years.
The "Day 1" comment was specifically pointed at the read-between the lines for Graal, which is basically to create a real IL for Java instead of using the InvokeDynamic semantic that is currently envogue for Scala, Clojure, etc. .NET has had the multi-language one VM paradigm since day one.