Squeak-dev February 2012

squeak-dev@lists.squeakfoundation.org

62 participants
155 discussions

The Trunk: MonticelloConfigurations-bf.101.mcz
by commits＠source.squeak.org 24 Feb '12

24 Feb '12

Bert Freudenberg uploaded a new version of MonticelloConfigurations to project The Trunk: http://source.squeak.org/trunk/MonticelloConfigurations-bf.101.mcz ==================== Summary ==================== Name: MonticelloConfigurations-bf.101 Author: bf Time: 24 February 2012, 4:28:40.632 pm UUID: 24806c61-8131-4596-98a1-5e6b9abce383 Ancestors: MonticelloConfigurations-bf.100 - when updating, keep on the same branch =============== Diff against MonticelloConfigurations-bf.100 =============== Item was changed: ----- Method: MCConfiguration>>updateFromRepositoriesWithoutCaching (in category 'updating') ----- updateFromRepositoriesWithoutCaching | oldNames newNames sortedNames newDeps | oldNames := self dependencies collect: [:dep | dep versionInfo versionName]. newNames := Dictionary new. self repositories do: [:repo | ProgressNotification signal: '' extra: 'Checking ', repo description. (repo possiblyNewerVersionsOfAnyOf: oldNames) do: [:newName | newNames at: newName put: repo]] displayingProgress: 'Searching new versions'. sortedNames := newNames keys asArray sort: [:a :b | a versionNumber > b versionNumber]. newDeps := OrderedCollection new: self dependencies size. self dependencies do: [:dep | newDeps add: (sortedNames + detect: [:each | each packageAndBranchName = dep packageAndBranchName] - detect: [:each | each packageName = dep package name] ifFound: [ :newName | | repo | repo := newNames at: newName. (self versionInfoNamed: newName for: dep from: repo) ifNil: [ dep ] ifNotNil: [ :info | MCVersionDependency package: dep package info: info ] ] ifNone: [ dep ]) ] displayingProgress: 'downloading new versions'. self dependencies: newDeps. !

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The Trunk: Monticello-bf.494.mcz
by commits＠source.squeak.org 24 Feb '12

24 Feb '12

Bert Freudenberg uploaded a new version of Monticello to project The Trunk: http://source.squeak.org/trunk/Monticello-bf.494.mcz ==================== Summary ==================== Name: Monticello-bf.494 Author: bf Time: 24 February 2012, 4:27:52.801 pm UUID: d27059d4-3f41-43b5-a488-0ac8a0066667 Ancestors: Monticello-bf.493 - fix branch handling in version names - let MCDiffyVersion handle parsing diffy version names =============== Diff against Monticello-bf.493 =============== Item was added: + ----- Method: MCVersionDependency>>packageAndBranchName (in category 'accessing') ----- + packageAndBranchName + ^self versionInfo packageAndBranchName! Item was added: + ----- Method: MCVersionInfo>>packageAndBranchName (in category 'accessing') ----- + packageAndBranchName + ^ name + ifNil: [ self name ] + ifNotNil: [ name asMCVersionName packageAndBranchName ]! Item was removed: - ----- Method: MCVersionName>>ancestorAuthor (in category 'accessing') ----- - ancestorAuthor - "The author of the ancestor, if this is a Diffy filename." - - ^self ancestry copyUpTo: $.! Item was removed: - ----- Method: MCVersionName>>ancestorVersionNumber (in category 'accessing') ----- - ancestorVersionNumber - "The author of the ancestor, if this is a Diffy filename." - - ^(self ancestry copyAfter: $.) asInteger ifNil: [ 0 ]! Item was added: + ----- Method: MCVersionName>>baseVersionName (in category 'accessing') ----- + baseVersionName + "The version name of our ancestor, if this is a Diffy filename." + + ^(MCDiffyVersion baseNameFrom: (self copyUpThrough: $))) asMCVersionName! Item was added: + ----- Method: MCVersionName>>packageAndBranchName (in category 'accessing') ----- + packageAndBranchName + "The MC package name, possibly with branch name, embedded into this filename." + + ^self versionName copyUpToLast: $-! Item was changed: ----- Method: MCVersionName>>packageName (in category 'accessing') ----- packageName "The MC Package name embedded into this filename." + ^self packageAndBranchName copyUpTo: $.! - ^self versionName copyUpToLast: $-! Item was changed: ----- Method: MCVersionName>>versionName (in category 'accessing') ----- versionName "Answer my version name as a ByteString, without the file suffix or any ancestor-attributes." | end | + self isEmpty ifTrue: [^ String empty]. + end := self indexOf: $( ifAbsent: [ + (self last between: $0 and: $9) + ifTrue: [ self size + 1 ] + ifFalse: [ self lastIndexOf: $. ifAbsent: [ self size + 1 ] ] ]. + ^self first: end - 1! - self isEmpty ifTrue: [^ String empty]. - (self last between: $0 and: $9) - ifTrue: [ end := self size ] - ifFalse: [ - end := (self lastIndexOf: $. ifAbsent: [ self size + 1 ]) - 1. - end := end min: (self indexOf: $( ifAbsent: [ self size + 1 ]) - 1 ]. - ^self first: end!

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How to add packages to SqueakMap
by 강진오 24 Feb '12

24 Feb '12

I tried to upload package to SqueakMap, but I couldn't find my package. I uploaded the package though both map.squeak.org and Universe Editor. The editor accepted my package, but I couldn't upload a release to my map.squeak.org. and I couldn't see the packages in SqueakMap Catalog. What happend? My map.squeak.org id is KJO. and the description of the package is: LightXmlRpc *Summary:* An light package (only client) that enables access to XML-RPC and MetaWebLog *Author:* Kang Jin-oh <jinoh67(a)gmail.com> *Owner:* Kang Jin-oh (KJO)<http://map.squeak.org/accountbyid/0ffea566-e6ac-4c2e-9616-b863c33ac035> *Co-maintainers:* *<None>* *Categories:* - Squeak<http://map.squeak.org/category/64b1b61e-b2b0-4807-8d88-f97e13a28fd9>- The official distribution of Squeak. - Non official package<http://map.squeak.org/category/df437783-cff8-4343-ba62-2d671271eb85>- Just a package for Squeak, no community guarantees. :) - Squeak4.3<http://map.squeak.org/category/ad6567c0-21fc-415c-90f2-024fc1c31ddd>- To be released - Development tools<http://map.squeak.org/category/82f328ab-175d-40b4-a363-bc0287dabd77>- Add-on development tools for Squeak. - Squeak3.10<http://map.squeak.org/category/dfa939b0-0e52-4a71-b881-51fd0423bafb>- Released 11 May 2008 - SqueakL + MIT<http://map.squeak.org/category/6407ed26-57a7-4742-8dad-d827618a9dbf>- Dual licensed under both SqueakL and MIT. This enables both base Squeak inclusion and 100% reuse. Recommended prior to 4.0. - Squeak versions<http://map.squeak.org/category/df573711-4924-4af7-a6e6-2ccaf8b1d2d6>- List of official Squeak versions to indicate compatibility. - Squeak4.1<http://map.squeak.org/category/18e7ca84-ff86-457a-814a-2b81680a9b4b>- Released 18th april 2010. - Stable<http://map.squeak.org/category/6ba57b6e-946a-4009-beaa-0ac93c08c5d1>- Useable by all. Bugs are rare. - Squeak4.0<http://map.squeak.org/category/23672d5e-d23c-4474-9f0d-77337eae1d78>- Released 15 Mar 2010 - Squeak4.2<http://map.squeak.org/category/c9483b78-49a2-4c1e-aa9e-9024a3381abb>- Released February 11th, 2011 - MIT<http://map.squeak.org/category/1868441e-8653-4ca1-a04b-d0f501b24a8e>- The MIT license is like BSD without the advertising clause. As free as it gets, suitable for cross Smalltalk 100% reuse. The recommended license for Squeak since the 4.0 release. *Homepage:* *PackageInfo name:* LightXmlRpcClient *RSS feed:* *Description:* An light and simple xml rpc client that supports XML-RPC. This package only supports for client, but may support server later. Supports SSL if you install Cryptography package and SSL package. Note: This is made by one people, and does not support official community. so try it by yourself.

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Re: [squeak-dev] Jecel is not running this year (was: Squeak Oversight Board minutes - 02/21/12)
by Casey Ransberger 24 Feb '12

24 Feb '12

Top-post: Bummer! I'm excited about your hardware work, silicon isn't something that's fast and easy, so I've been fine with waiting. I've learned just enough about this stuff to realize how enormous what you're doing really is, and I commend you for seeing the work through. FWIW, I don't buy your conflict of interest argument though;) and I think you should run again anyway. Thanks for serving on the board, especially with regard to your work in the relicensing effort, and for all of your thoughtful comments both on the list and elsewhere. You bring an ocean of perspective to this community. Remind me to bother you again about making an Apple IIgs from scratch:) Don't leave town! On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 12:35 PM, Jecel Assumpcao Jr. <jecel(a)merlintec.com>wrote: > Chris Cunnington wrote on Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:16:41 -0500 > > - Jecel will not be running for the SOB again to concentrate on his > Smalltalk fork > > called (provisionally) NeoSmalltalk. It allows several images to run on > a single vm > > and work in concert > > Below is a *very* long version of this, but you don't have to read it > because the short version is: my plan is to work on getting Squeak 4.3 > to run on the SiliconSqueak processor during the first half of this year > and then work on a very simple Smalltalk to run side by side with Squeak > in the second half of 2012. This might cause some conflict of interest, > so I think it would be a bad idea for me to be on the board. Being part > of the board for the past three years has been a very positive > experience and if it turns out (as is likely) that there are no > conflicts of interest then I would be happy to run again in 2013. > > Anyone curious about this project might find this presentation from a > year ago interesting (though the simple drawings don't make much sense > without the narration): > > http://www.merlintec.com/download/jecel1cwlcr.pdf (1MB) > > Now for the very long version: > > John Maloney invited me to the Squeak community a little before it > became public. I had previously been a part of the Smalltalk and Self > communities having started building Smalltalk hardware in 1984. Though > my contributions to Squeak have been very small, I feel my participation > has often helped bring a historical perspective to the discussions (this > was particularly useful during the relicencing effort). > > Part of the community wanted to use Squeak as just a starting point for > something that might turn out very different. Alan Kay said so in his > 1997 OOPSLA keynote talk. And certainly if you look at what is going on > at VPRI or what Dan Ingalls has done in the Lively Kernel you can get a > good feel for what they were talking about. But there was a large part > of the community that just wanted Squeak to be a free alternative to > VisualWorks. > > Around 1994 I had dropped the hardware side of my project since PCs were > advancing so quickly (the Be and NeXT people felt the same, among many > others at the time). But by 1998 I felt I could have a much better > performance/cost ratio with a design optimized for Smalltalk. FPGAs had > advanced enough that you could fit a whole processor inside them and > they had become cheap enough so you could use them in an actual product > rather than just the prototype. > > Sun had killed off the Self community by shutting down the servers used > for downloading the software and papers as well as for the mailing > lists. So I proposed to the Squeak community a roadmap to add all the > neat technology I had been working on in Self to Squeak: > > - a new event system to make Squeak into a nice and secure OS > - a modular alternative to images > - a simpler base model with a compatibility layer for running all the > old stuff > > The reaction was roughly "if I wanted to program in Self then I would > use Self. I want Squeak to be Smalltalk-80". I had been using my > university's computers to run Self up to that point and didn't have a PC > fast enough to make Squeak practical. So my choice was to either buy the > fastest PC available for Squeak or a Sun Ultra 5 for Self, and I did the > latter. I also created a new "self-interest" mailing list on eGroups > (now YahooGroups) and was able to ressurect the Self community > (currently being lead by Russell Allen). I continued to participate in > the Squeak community, but my project was not related to it. > > A lot of people complain about how many years I have been working on my > designs with no concrete results. They are partly right to do so, but > when you compare to one a single person with practically no financing > has done with what, for example Transmeta took five years to do with a > large and well financed team I don't think it is as bad as it initially > seems. > > The main Smalltalk processor was: > - Tachyon (1998-2001): four slot MOVE architecture with large external > cache > - Plurion (2001-2003): multiple stack machines with three level stacks > - Neo32 (2003-2006): multiple stack machines with dual stacks > - RISC42 (2006-2008): 32 bit RISC with 16 bit instructions optimized for > adaptive compilation > - SiliconSqueak (2008-2010): bytecode machine with 32 bit microcode > - SiliconSqueak (2010-now): bytecode machine with 16 bit microcode and > ALU Matrix > > In parallel with this, I had been working on a much smaller processor > (an alternative to the Atmel ATMega used in the popular Arduino boards, > for example) for a terminal for truck drivers that a client wanted to > sell: > > - Oliver (2001-2003): patched MISC Forth processor for object > orientation > - dietST (2003): very reduced Smalltalk processor to fit in smallest > FPGA > - Neo16(2003-2006): simple stack machine with dual stacks > > In 2007 I started a master's project at the local university and the > pace of the project became even slower. In 2008 Merik Voswinkel was > proposing the "SqueakPhone" as an alternative to Apple's closed iPhone > and we decided to join forces. Some of the people already working with > him had already invested a lot in Squeak and asked me if my hardware > couldn't be modified to run that instead of my own Neo Smalltalk > (previously Self/R and Merlin OS before that). I had already > investigated the idea of a Squeak processor back in 2004 and decided > that the result would be good enough. We could probably make some > interesting products with Squeak as it is plus Etoys or Scratch and then > we could move on to more advanced stuff. While the SqueakVM is large and > awkward compared to some others I had worked on (Neo32 is a good > example), this really doesn't make any difference to the end user. We > could run Squeak on the Strongtalk or Self VMs or run Self on top of the > Squeak VM and the language level would be the only one to make an > impression. > > As part of the Squeak community, I had watched Ian Piumarta fail twice > to get the community to adopt his JITs. Henrik Gedenryd failed to get > modules adopted and Anthony Hannan didn't get any takers for this > closures nor his new bytecodes. And I had failed in 2005 to get the > community to participate in the new OLPC project. But in 2008 I saw the > community welcome Eliot Miranda's new Cog effort and the board's > discussion to base Squeak 4 on Spoon (changed to Squeak 5 as Squeak 4 > was redefined to be a license change instead of a technical one) and > thought that perhaps the time had come to move Squeak forward. > > Now don't get me wrong - I am against moving forward by breaking a lot > of stuff. And I think we have made a commitment to the Etoys users and > can't simply decide to stop supporting their needs. It only seems you > can't have it both ways when you are focused on the details of day to > day development. If you step back and look at the big picture then you > might find a solution. > > Let me give you an example: though I was really excited when the Mac > came out and still love it, knowing everything I know today I feel it > was a huge mistake that nearly killed the company. If they had instead > created an Apple IV with roughly the same features but capable of > running the old stuff inside of virtual Apple IIs, each in its own > window, then they would have been far more successful. > > Just wanting to have both progress and access to the old stuff is not > enough. Having watched a few talks about the future of Pharo, it seems > that they want this (both a really stable free alternative to > VisualWorks for serious business applications and a research platform > for their students) but I have not yet seen a plan to achieve this. > > My own solution is to run different systems on the same platform (the > Squeak VM) and have a standard inter image communication system so an > application can use Squeak, Pharo, Cuis, Spoon, OpenQwaq, OpenCobalt, > Scratch, Etoys, Newspeak and others at the same time. That would allow > us to change one as radically as we want while not breaking anything > since all the old stuff would continue to be available. > > Most, if not all, of the work needed for this already exists in > scattered pieces. For example: we would need to be able to show objects > that live in different images on the same screen. Like in Nebraska and > several odd projects from Japan that I can't remember the name of right > now. > > Anyway, in such an environment it would be possible to keep all the > current stuff running and have Squeak change as little as people want. I > can keep using Celeste to read and write my emails, for example. At the > same time I will be free to throw out classes, globals and textual > syntax, replace the image with modules and do anything I feel is > important without upsettting anyone. The previous idea of slow and > steady changes to Squeak had the problem that, as I always like to say, > you can't add simplicity, only complexity. > > -- Jecel > > > -- Casey Ransberger

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The Inbox: Tools-ael.395.mcz
by commits＠source.squeak.org 23 Feb '12

23 Feb '12

A new version of Tools was added to project The Inbox: http://source.squeak.org/inbox/Tools-ael.395.mcz ==================== Summary ==================== Name: Tools-ael.395 Author: ael Time: 23 February 2012, 12:28:46.056 pm UUID: 435b2241-2f40-d64c-8075-f566bd21a1c5 Ancestors: Tools-ael.394 fix to prevent the 'recent' facility in a Browser categories pane from discarding changes =============== Diff against Tools-ael.394 =============== Item was changed: ----- Method: Browser>>recent (in category 'class list') ----- recent "Let the user select from a list of recently visited classes. 11/96 stp. 12/96 di: use class name, not classes themselves. : dont fall into debugger in empty case" | className class recentList | recentList := RecentClasses select: [:n | Smalltalk hasClassNamed: n]. recentList size = 0 ifTrue: [^ Beeper beep]. className := UIManager default chooseFrom: recentList values: recentList. className == nil ifTrue: [^ self]. + + self okToChange ifFalse: [^ self]. + class := Smalltalk at: className. self selectCategoryForClass: class. self classListIndex: (self classListIndexOf: class name)!

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Re: [squeak-dev] Jecel is not running this year (was: Squeak Oversight Board minutes - 02/21/12)
by karl ramberg 23 Feb '12

23 Feb '12

On Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 8:43 PM, Jecel Assumpcao Jr. <jecel(a)merlintec.com> wrote: > Thanks to Enrico, Hannes and David for your kind words. > > Enrico Spinielli wrote: > >> If you will organize your projects to be open and you will be willing to get some help, >> I would be very interested to help with your vision of a system projected in the future >> without forgetting the past! > > The project was fully Open Source between 1997 and 2008 (though so > poorly documented that it might as well have been closed), but now is > partly Open Source and we still have to figure out which parts will be > what given the large overlap between the commercial venture and my PhD > project. Curiously, while it was Open Source it couldn't be considered > Free Software since in the 1990s I came up with a concept similar to > Apple's App Store but with "pay per use" as in Brad Cox's > "Superdistribution" instead of "pay to own". > > http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.09/superdis.html > > Having to pay to run software violates freedom 0, though not 1, 2 and 3: > > http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html > > It does not, however, violate any of the 10 terms of the Open Source > Defintion: > > http://www.opensource.org/osd.html > > Basically, it would be great if people could make their living by > working on Smalltalk. I am trying to figure out a way to achieve this > without secrets and restrictions. Back in the 1980s and early 1990s I > gave the DRM issue a lot of thought and decided against trying to find a > technical solution for an ethical problem. > > Hannes Hirzel wrote: > >> You say: >> >> " I you can't add simplicity, only complexity." >> >> So to have something simple you have to start from scratch. > > Exactly. If you take Unix and add X11 and then QT and the KDE you might > get something that looks simple, but it really isn't and once in a while > the underlying complexity will show through. Contrast this with BeOS, > for example. And I think that they limited how simply they could make it > by basing their work on C++. > > Even while playing with Little Smalltalk 3 (100KB image, 40KB VM and > Smalltalk-76 class model) or 4 (92KB image, 89KB VM and Smalltalk-80 > model) I like to think about how much we have learned since these > systems were created and how much smaller and simpler they could be. > > Just a simple example to make this discussion more concrete: in the > Squeak VM we have the "push literal" bytecode that will take an object > reference stored in the method object and save that on the stack. That > reference can be to *any* object in the whole image, but the compiler > will only allow us to generate code that points to a small set of > objects that have a literal syntax defined for them: arrays, numbers, > strings, characters, booleans and nil. What if we could just drag any > object and drop it into the source code? The compiler could be far > simpler - all it would need to do would be to copy the reference from > the source text to the method object instead of knowing how to parse > half a dozen text notations. Of course, the complexity would have just > moved elsewhere instead of being eliminated because if the compiler > doesn't know how to make numbers then some other part of the system has > to be able to do it. > > The point is that doing it from scratch allows us to explore > alternatives that are not available while just adding to the current > system. > >> I am looking forward to your work on a >> "a very simple Smalltalk to run side by side with Squeak in the second >> half of 2012" > > For that we have to define a standard way to communicate between > different images (TeaTime is a way to keep identical images in sync, and > so doesn't count). That could be rST, Spoon's Other or something similar > (Colin Putney has proposed a specialized one for remote > debugging/development). With a little care, it would be possible to have > an application that would run half in Squeak 1.6 and half in Squeak 4.3 > or else half in Spoon and half in Newspeak. > This would be cool. And maybe confusing ;-) Karl

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Re: [squeak-dev] Jecel is not running this year (was: Squeak Oversight Board minutes - 02/21/12)
by Enrico Spinielli 23 Feb '12

23 Feb '12

Jecel, thank you a lot for your historical report. If you will organize your projects to be open and you will be willing to get some help, I would be very interested to help with your vision of a system projected in the future without forgetting the past! Bye Enrico On Feb 22, 2012 8:38 PM, "Jecel Assumpcao Jr." <jecel(a)merlintec.com> wrote: > Chris Cunnington wrote on Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:16:41 -0500 > > - Jecel will not be running for the SOB again to concentrate on his > Smalltalk fork > > called (provisionally) NeoSmalltalk. It allows several images to run on > a single vm > > and work in concert > > Below is a *very* long version of this, but you don't have to read it > because the short version is: my plan is to work on getting Squeak 4.3 > to run on the SiliconSqueak processor during the first half of this year > and then work on a very simple Smalltalk to run side by side with Squeak > in the second half of 2012. This might cause some conflict of interest, > so I think it would be a bad idea for me to be on the board. Being part > of the board for the past three years has been a very positive > experience and if it turns out (as is likely) that there are no > conflicts of interest then I would be happy to run again in 2013. > > Anyone curious about this project might find this presentation from a > year ago interesting (though the simple drawings don't make much sense > without the narration): > > http://www.merlintec.com/download/jecel1cwlcr.pdf (1MB) > > Now for the very long version: > > John Maloney invited me to the Squeak community a little before it > became public. I had previously been a part of the Smalltalk and Self > communities having started building Smalltalk hardware in 1984. Though > my contributions to Squeak have been very small, I feel my participation > has often helped bring a historical perspective to the discussions (this > was particularly useful during the relicencing effort). > > Part of the community wanted to use Squeak as just a starting point for > something that might turn out very different. Alan Kay said so in his > 1997 OOPSLA keynote talk. And certainly if you look at what is going on > at VPRI or what Dan Ingalls has done in the Lively Kernel you can get a > good feel for what they were talking about. But there was a large part > of the community that just wanted Squeak to be a free alternative to > VisualWorks. > > Around 1994 I had dropped the hardware side of my project since PCs were > advancing so quickly (the Be and NeXT people felt the same, among many > others at the time). But by 1998 I felt I could have a much better > performance/cost ratio with a design optimized for Smalltalk. FPGAs had > advanced enough that you could fit a whole processor inside them and > they had become cheap enough so you could use them in an actual product > rather than just the prototype. > > Sun had killed off the Self community by shutting down the servers used > for downloading the software and papers as well as for the mailing > lists. So I proposed to the Squeak community a roadmap to add all the > neat technology I had been working on in Self to Squeak: > > - a new event system to make Squeak into a nice and secure OS > - a modular alternative to images > - a simpler base model with a compatibility layer for running all the > old stuff > > The reaction was roughly "if I wanted to program in Self then I would > use Self. I want Squeak to be Smalltalk-80". I had been using my > university's computers to run Self up to that point and didn't have a PC > fast enough to make Squeak practical. So my choice was to either buy the > fastest PC available for Squeak or a Sun Ultra 5 for Self, and I did the > latter. I also created a new "self-interest" mailing list on eGroups > (now YahooGroups) and was able to ressurect the Self community > (currently being lead by Russell Allen). I continued to participate in > the Squeak community, but my project was not related to it. > > A lot of people complain about how many years I have been working on my > designs with no concrete results. They are partly right to do so, but > when you compare to one a single person with practically no financing > has done with what, for example Transmeta took five years to do with a > large and well financed team I don't think it is as bad as it initially > seems. > > The main Smalltalk processor was: > - Tachyon (1998-2001): four slot MOVE architecture with large external > cache > - Plurion (2001-2003): multiple stack machines with three level stacks > - Neo32 (2003-2006): multiple stack machines with dual stacks > - RISC42 (2006-2008): 32 bit RISC with 16 bit instructions optimized for > adaptive compilation > - SiliconSqueak (2008-2010): bytecode machine with 32 bit microcode > - SiliconSqueak (2010-now): bytecode machine with 16 bit microcode and > ALU Matrix > > In parallel with this, I had been working on a much smaller processor > (an alternative to the Atmel ATMega used in the popular Arduino boards, > for example) for a terminal for truck drivers that a client wanted to > sell: > > - Oliver (2001-2003): patched MISC Forth processor for object > orientation > - dietST (2003): very reduced Smalltalk processor to fit in smallest > FPGA > - Neo16(2003-2006): simple stack machine with dual stacks > > In 2007 I started a master's project at the local university and the > pace of the project became even slower. In 2008 Merik Voswinkel was > proposing the "SqueakPhone" as an alternative to Apple's closed iPhone > and we decided to join forces. Some of the people already working with > him had already invested a lot in Squeak and asked me if my hardware > couldn't be modified to run that instead of my own Neo Smalltalk > (previously Self/R and Merlin OS before that). I had already > investigated the idea of a Squeak processor back in 2004 and decided > that the result would be good enough. We could probably make some > interesting products with Squeak as it is plus Etoys or Scratch and then > we could move on to more advanced stuff. While the SqueakVM is large and > awkward compared to some others I had worked on (Neo32 is a good > example), this really doesn't make any difference to the end user. We > could run Squeak on the Strongtalk or Self VMs or run Self on top of the > Squeak VM and the language level would be the only one to make an > impression. > > As part of the Squeak community, I had watched Ian Piumarta fail twice > to get the community to adopt his JITs. Henrik Gedenryd failed to get > modules adopted and Anthony Hannan didn't get any takers for this > closures nor his new bytecodes. And I had failed in 2005 to get the > community to participate in the new OLPC project. But in 2008 I saw the > community welcome Eliot Miranda's new Cog effort and the board's > discussion to base Squeak 4 on Spoon (changed to Squeak 5 as Squeak 4 > was redefined to be a license change instead of a technical one) and > thought that perhaps the time had come to move Squeak forward. > > Now don't get me wrong - I am against moving forward by breaking a lot > of stuff. And I think we have made a commitment to the Etoys users and > can't simply decide to stop supporting their needs. It only seems you > can't have it both ways when you are focused on the details of day to > day development. If you step back and look at the big picture then you > might find a solution. > > Let me give you an example: though I was really excited when the Mac > came out and still love it, knowing everything I know today I feel it > was a huge mistake that nearly killed the company. If they had instead > created an Apple IV with roughly the same features but capable of > running the old stuff inside of virtual Apple IIs, each in its own > window, then they would have been far more successful. > > Just wanting to have both progress and access to the old stuff is not > enough. Having watched a few talks about the future of Pharo, it seems > that they want this (both a really stable free alternative to > VisualWorks for serious business applications and a research platform > for their students) but I have not yet seen a plan to achieve this. > > My own solution is to run different systems on the same platform (the > Squeak VM) and have a standard inter image communication system so an > application can use Squeak, Pharo, Cuis, Spoon, OpenQwaq, OpenCobalt, > Scratch, Etoys, Newspeak and others at the same time. That would allow > us to change one as radically as we want while not breaking anything > since all the old stuff would continue to be available. > > Most, if not all, of the work needed for this already exists in > scattered pieces. For example: we would need to be able to show objects > that live in different images on the same screen. Like in Nebraska and > several odd projects from Japan that I can't remember the name of right > now. > > Anyway, in such an environment it would be possible to keep all the > current stuff running and have Squeak change as little as people want. I > can keep using Celeste to read and write my emails, for example. At the > same time I will be free to throw out classes, globals and textual > syntax, replace the image with modules and do anything I feel is > important without upsettting anyone. The previous idea of slow and > steady changes to Squeak had the problem that, as I always like to say, > you can't add simplicity, only complexity. > > -- Jecel > > >

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How to add packages to SqueakMap
by Chris Cunnington 23 Feb '12

23 Feb '12

Hi Jin-oh, Thanks for the feedback. It's very useful. I can see it's crashed now, but it's breaking where I figure - around login. I sort of knew that, but it energizes my efforts to get feedback from a user and I was watching CSI, so I did the quickest thing to provide something. You see, I have all the presentation stuff basically done, and ran out of steam with the login stuff. So here's what I'll do. I'll look into that stuff and put it up again at map.16r.ca on Monday. Perhaps you could wait until then? I want to clear this project off my desk and you're pushing me to do it. Then we can harden the new server and deprecate the old. Next version Monday. Thanks, Chris

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Re: [squeak-dev] Jecel is not running this year (was: Squeak Oversight Board minutes - 02/21/12)
by David T. Lewis 23 Feb '12

23 Feb '12

On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 05:35:36PM -0300, Jecel Assumpcao Jr. wrote: > Chris Cunnington wrote on Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:16:41 -0500 > > - Jecel will not be running for the SOB again to concentrate on his Smalltalk fork > > called (provisionally) NeoSmalltalk. It allows several images to run on a single vm > > and work in concert > > Below is a *very* long version of this, but you don't have to read it > because the short version is: my plan is to work on getting Squeak 4.3 > to run on the SiliconSqueak processor during the first half of this year > and then work on a very simple Smalltalk to run side by side with Squeak > in the second half of 2012. This might cause some conflict of interest, > so I think it would be a bad idea for me to be on the board. Being part > of the board for the past three years has been a very positive > experience and if it turns out (as is likely) that there are no > conflicts of interest then I would be happy to run again in 2013. Jacel, Thank you for serving on the board and I hope that you will do so again in the future. I for one am not worried about any conflicts of interest with your various projects. And thanks also for the "long version" of your story, it is very interesting reading. Dave

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Edgar De Cleene is running for the board in 2012
by Edgar J. De Cleene 23 Feb '12

23 Feb '12

Don¹t ask what your Squeak can do for you. Ask instead what you can do for your Squeak And I think I have done some.... Edgar

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