Squeak-dev June 1999

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139 participants
408 discussions

Polymorphism and language
by Adam Bridge 02 Aug '00

02 Aug '00

I wonder if we're not asking the wrong question here. Language, it seems to me, is for expression. If we design a language (as opposed to allowing it to evolve) then we should have a goal for that language. What's the goal here? Although polymorphism is certainly an interesting capability shouldn't we be looking at the kinds of tasks we wish to perform? Would we demand an artist work in tempra when water color is what expresses the mood best? Personally I like the idea of small languages that do some things very very well. They are easy to learn because their concepts are clear. If languages can agree on ways to intermingle so I can write my image manipulation in one language and my text in another and my GUI in yet another -- and have them work together intimately and EASILY -- then I think we have a software system which is about expression first and language second. I'd love to easily, trivially, combine Smalltalk, Perl, Fortran, Obj-C and be able to easily explore other languages in this same context: it becomes easy to grow. Adam Bridge

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unsubscribe
by Alek 09 Jun '00

09 Jun '00

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Article in Wired
by Andrew C. Greenberg 11 Oct '99

11 Oct '99

The July 1999 Wired has a brief piece on Squeak on page 158, entitled "Exquisite Computing." Missing the point entirely as the media so often does, the article observes that Squeak has "text-wrapping and manipulation features that would make PageMaker green with envy." But hey, the piece, at least, has a screen shot and encourages folks to visit http://www.squeak.org. Just so long as they spell our name right. So, in anticipation of the new raft of newbies this is bound to engender, let's polish up the help pages and welcome them to the world of real computing. Its time -- what can we do to help?

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Re: Re: Float bug toolkit: what the hash is this?
by Tim Olson 31 Aug '99

31 Aug '99

>>"[1]" (10 raisedToInteger: 600) = (10.0 raisedToInteger: 800) "alt-p" >>These are equal since both expressions end up answering a float with a >>special value indicating positive infinity. Positive infinities are always >>equal. > >Nonono.... (10 raisedToInteger: 600) is anInteger, while the other (if >finished correctly) is aFloat. Correct. The problem occurs when the #= message is sent to the LargePositiveInteger with the argument a Float (+Infinity). This causes the LargePositiveInteger to be adapted to a Float (resulting in +Infinity, as well). >If aFloat turns out to be infinite, an error >should be posted. This would have to be tested in the Float primitives in the VM whenever an overflow (or NaN, I suppose) is generated. However, I *think* (VM experts correct me, here) that all they can do is fail rather than returning a succesful value, so all of the Float code that invokes primitives would have to be rewritten to test and reflect this overflow/exception failure. The IEEE "default" operation is to silently return the default values (Inf or NaN), rather than generating an exception. What should the standard for Squeak be? -- tim

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ScrollPane design question was: Speaking of the latest version...
by David Farber 19 Jul '99

19 Jul '99

Dan, i've built a subclass of ScrollPane called PluggableScrollMorph that takes any ol' morph to be displayed inside the scroll region. in doing this, however, i've run across a snag. i've described the problem below. i have also attached the changes i have made to ScrollPane. if i am on the wrong track, the please set me to rights. if not, i'd like to submit my changes to be included in the next set of updates. when i first starting playing around with ScrollPane morphs, i thought that adding a morph to the scrollable region would be as simple as something like: ScrollPane new addMorph: (EllipseMorph new extent: 50@300); openInWorld while playing around with Morphic and trying to get familiar with everything i discovered that i could do the same thing interactively in a Morphic Project by: World->new morph...->Basic->EllipseMorph EllipseMorph->resize World->new morphs...->Windows->ScrollPane drag EllipseMorhp on top of ScrollPane EllipseMorph->embed... ScrollPane both of these give me the same thing: a result other than the one i was hoping for--the EllipseMorph sits on top of the scroll pane, not inside the scroll region. when building the ScollPane interactively, i noticed that when i went to embed the EllipseMorph inside the ScollPane i could choose to embed it inside some unnamed TransformMorph and i was closer to the result i wanted. rummaging through source code in the image i found that the programmatic equivalent was to ask the ScollPane for its scroller and put the EllipseMorph there. | pane | pane := ScrollPane new. pane scroller addMorph: (EllipseMorph new extent: 50@300). pane openInWorld well, there was two problems with this. number one, i didn't like it. it seemed like a violation of encapsulation to know that you needed to ask for scroller to add your morph to. number two, when you add your morph to the scroller, the ScrollPane doesn't know to update itself, so the scollbar doesn't adjust itself. so, i "fixed" both of these problems by rewriting addMorph: in ScrollPane to add new morphs to the scroller and then update itself. (i also had to make changes to initialize.) and it was Good. until, in the course of building PluggableScrollMorph i realized that maybe it wasn't as easy as that. now that the submorphs are all inside the scroller, i see that i'll need to rewrite quite a few methods that get inherited. the first one i came across was replaceSubmorph:by:, but it looks like there are quite a few more. in addition, there are quite a few methods (200+) in the Morph heirarchy that reference the submorphs instance variable directly; these should probably get the collection of submorphs by calling an accessor method that can be overridden for container objects like ScrollPane. so, i'm not quite sure if i am on the right track. let me know what you think. david At 09:44 PM 6/21/99 -0700, you wrote: >Folks - > >You may have noticed Squeak Central laying low through the last couple of mail storms. It's not that we're not interested, it's just that we have been busy. > >We have made some progress in integrating balloon with morphic, integrating 3D with morphic, and integrating normal programming with scripting and viewers. Also a unification of WorldMorphs with PasteUpMorphs so that any world or pasteUp can be written out to a SqueakPage, and then read in as a world, a pasteUp, or the page of a book. Also some steps toward better modularity, such as being able to atomically assert/revert changes when entering/leaving a project. And some fun new stuff in music that lets you enter melodies from a keyboard into a score, and then copy and paste them and play the results, as well as some tweaks that make it easier to play with looped sampled sounds. > >It's my hope to assemble all of this into a new image some time next week, but it might take a bit longer as several of the changes touch a lot of code. We have lots of updates to put out, and I will probably release a spate of them toward the end of the week. > >A number of interesting enhancements and bug fixes have been put forward from this mailing list. Please let me know privately of anything you feel deserves special consideration for inclusion in the main line release. > >In case you wonder, everyone here resonates with the desire to spruce up Squeak.org, and to clarify our mission a bit in the process, but we probably won't take any real action until we have put out the next release. > >Walk tall and talk Small > > - Dan > > > Attachment converted: Anon:ScrollPane.26Jun536pm.cs (TEXT/MSIE) (0000AD11) -- j. david farber oo architect+mentor numenor labs incorporated in sunny boulder colorado dfarber(a)numenor.com www.numenor.com

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Re: On Reuse
by Peter Smet 01 Jul '99

01 Jul '99

> >It may save people lots of time if we have a list of Squeak enhancements at >the Swiki. Just a title and one line comment for each thing. We could then >get into the habit of quickly perusing this list BEFORE we embark on our >next 'interesting project'. There, I've done it. There is a new page at the Swiki called "Been there, done that". I have hurriedly listed a few things there. Please add to this list. Remember, this is for doing a quick scan so keep descriptions to one line or less. Peter

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Smalltalk Style Resources
by Peter William Lount 01 Jul '99

01 Jul '99

Hi, Since this topic neads some humour I've included this style web site that contains a warning from Batman. http://cs.loyno.edu/cosc216/serules.htm ;--) I'm attempting to collect a list of Smalltalk Style Rules and Guidelines for a www.smalltalk.org web page. Please contribute if you know of any web pages. Also, I came across this interesting statement "The Smalltalk archives at UIUC will soon contain a 'Style Checker' tool that detects classic Smalltalk bugs and points out possible errors according to some rules about error-prone coding styles." on the ByteSmiths web page. Does anyone know if this code exists somewhere? All the best, Peter William Lount peter(a)smalltalk.org http://www.smalltalk.org The list so far: Smalltalk Style Guides http://cs.loyno.edu/cosc216/serules.htm http://www.bytesmiths.com/Publications/9511SmalltalkStyle.ssi Mentions of Smalltalk is other Style Guides http://hepunx.rl.ac.uk/atlas/oo/languages/C++/style-may13.html http://st-www.cs.uiuc.edu/~brant/RefactoringBrowser/LintChecks.html http://www.chimu.com/publications/javaStandards/part0003.html

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Re: [ENH] OS-level events
by Peter Smet 01 Jul '99

01 Jul '99

My understanding of events is much more basic than the others discussing this issue, but I have a naive question. Why are low level OS events like mouse clicks and keyboard strokes treated differently from a general events mechanism? By this I mean a mechanism for passing messages to 'subscribers' whenever an object emits an event (publish-subscribe)? It seems to me that any event still has an Object from which it originates, and one or more objects that will be told the event has occurred. Why can't low and high level events share the same abstractions, and even be placed on the same event queue? I also think exception-handling has much in common with event handling (on: exception do: aBlock). The exception looks to me very much like an 'event' that the block is told about. Is it possible to fuse these three mechanisms into a common abstraction and reuse a lot of the code, or is this just wishful thinking on my part? Peter From: Reinier van Loon <R.L.J.M.W.van.Loon(a)inter.nl.net> To: squeak(a)cs.uiuc.edu <squeak(a)cs.uiuc.edu> Date: Thursday, July 01, 1999 6:06 AM Subject: Re: [ENH] OS-level events >I keep getting the impression that the event systems designed so far are >only concerned with keyboard or mouse events. These events are then put in >an event queue with some information regarding the event. > >Why not define an event as <time, object> and event queue as a collection >sorted by time? >The global event (interrupt) handler detects an event on the queue (tim's >work) and gets the rest of the event of the object mentioned in the event. > >In this way, each object (keyboard, mouse, network, etc.) can have it's own >buffer. >And composite events are detected easily by comparing the time stamps. > >You could even start new processes to deal with events or have different >event handlers wait on the queues of the objects. No 'centralized' event >queue anymore. > >Just an idea. > >Reinier. > >

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Re: [ALL] Lobbying - Smalltalk KILLER APP!
by Peter Smet 01 Jul '99

01 Jul '99

Yes! Yes! Yes! I think this is an excellent idea. As mentioned, the pluggable web server in Squeak is a great starting point. Mark Guzdial and others are modifying the Swiki servers to handle uploads, and the whole site is becoming very interactive. The next generation of pluggable web server is called commanche - I have noticed non-smalltalkers enquiring about the security and load aspects of the servers, so I suspect there is a big demand for a robust Smalltalk server. To find out more, do a search on PWS, pluggable web server, swiki etc, on the following home page: http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak.1 L. M. Rappaport wrote in message <377385ac.4116159(a)beavis.kronos.com>... >Another good starting place might be the PWS (programmable web server) >classes in Squeak. There is already an existing set of classes for >doing just that. Many SWIKI's are already running using this code. > >Larry >-- >rapp(a)lmr.com > > >Smalltalk4ever! <smalltalk4ever(a)my-deja.com> wrote (with possible >editing): > >>In article <7j74sq$ldq6(a)deagol.cc.flinders.edu.au>, >> "Peter Smet" <peter_smet(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >>> Stephan, >>> [stuff about increasing Smalltalk's public profile snipped] >>> These are all excellent points. >>> I would like to add one more. >>> >>> The visibility of Smalltalk would be hugely increased by an >>> 'open source killer app' >> >>OK - HERE'S THE KILLER SMALLTALK APP! [read on!] >> >>Sun and Netscape just "opened the door" for us... There's a TREMENDOUS >>opportunity for Smalltalk to have a killer app, right in front of us. >> >>Sun's JWS - Java Web Server - has been getting serious kudos from the >>web serving community for its performance over CGI - Since JWS serves >>pages with "lightweight threads" it's a LOT faster than CGI's running as >>UNIX processes. Smalltalk processes would be just as lightweight! >> >>The "Sun/Netscape Alliance" process identified a few Sun products that >>were in direct competition with Netscape products. In their infinite >>wisdom, the "Alliance" decided to "End-Of-Life" the Java Web Server >>product. The upcoming 2.0 release will be the LAST release of JWS. >> >>WAHOO! This is the perfect time for a "Smalltalk Web Server" to come on >>the scene. I know some work has already been done along these lines, >>but I don't remember it being free, nor do I see it (currently) being >>packaged in a way that a non-smalltalker "web administrator" could >>simply install and use. Most importantly, it should be cross-platform, >>i.e. it should work on VW and VA and Dolphin and whatever else people >>are hacking on nowadays... >> >>The JWS product is a good reference implementation; it already shows how >>a web server can integrate with existing CGI scripts, standard http and >>ftp and file services, and, most importantly, it lets developers bounce >>"servlets" up and down without bouncing the whole server up and down. >>While it's admin interface leaves a lot to be desired, any Web Server's >>admin interface needs to be at least as good as JWS's is. >> >>Man, this is exciting to me. It's not often I see a "killer app" >>opportunity as clearly as I see this one. >> >>Let's run with this, and kick some serious java-butt while we're at it. >> >>Eliot, James, Ralph, Eric, and Peter - - aw, heck, and anyone else who's >>interested - - Come On, Let's Make This HAPPEN! >> >>NOW is the time to "play the right cards" in the Web Server market. >> >>-Paul Reiber >>Smalltalk4ever! >>http://members.excite.com/directory/Smalltalk4ever >> >> >>Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ >>Share what you know. Learn what you don't. >

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Re: [ANN] SmallInterfaces Squeak port
by Tim Cuthbertson 30 Jun '99

30 Jun '99

I think I know Benny Sadeh. If he's the same person, we used to work on a VisualWorks project together at BellSouth. Tim >Hi Squeakers, > >I ported the "SmallInterfaces" extension to Squeak. > >"SmallInterfaces" introduces the notion of "interface" in Smalltalk. > >It is originally developed by Benny Sadeh in VisualWorks3.0 NC. > >Main features: > * create and use interfaces in Smalltalk. > * generating stub implementation classes from interfaces. > * generating interfaces from classes. > * some GUI support for interface browsing. > >http://brain.cs.uiuc.edu/VisualWorks.SmallInterfaces (original) >http://www.mars.dti.ne.jp/~umejava/smalltalk/stClasses/smallinterfaces / >(Squeak Port) > >Enjoy! > >--- >[:masashi | ^umezawa] > "self become: self new" > >

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