A Transplant You Don't Want to Talk About
I think the word "craptastic" comes to mind....
Scripting with Pharo
Coral is a library that improves Pharo's scripting capabilities - now I just need to wake my rusty French up so I can read the installation instructions...
Those Bright Folks at the RIAA
Just when you think the RIAA can't get dumber, they show that there are depths past the seemingly possible. They think that the mere existence of a .music TLD will facilitate piracy.
Apparently, certain arrangements of letters are just evil
More on Seaside Testing Tools
Tony Fleig has a part 2 up on automated Seaside app testing
Technorati Tags: seaside
Camp Smalltalk Wiki
Instantiations has set up a new wiki for Camp Smalltalk - and you can attend the next one of those on the weekend before StS 2011.
Technorati Tags: sts2011, camp smalltalk
Two Suns in the Sky
If this comes to pass - Betelgeuse going SuperNova and giving us what looks like a "second sun" for a few weeks - it would be awesome:
When that happens, for at least a few weeks, we'd see a second sun, Carter says. There may also be no night during that timeframe
Hat tip Rob Fahrni
ST 4U 37: A First Look at Squeak
Today's Smalltalk 4 You takes a first look at using Squeak. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, click on the image below:
If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.
You can also watch it on YouTube:
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Kinect and EToys
The folks at GIRA have hooked up Kinect and EToys - follow the link for some video and explanation on how to get started.
Builds and Project Oddities
You find a lot of quirks when you try to automate your Smalltalk builds. Some of them are related to your project, and others are in the system itself. With the way VisualWorks is built now, it's easy (in theory) to unload packages you don't need at runtime. For instance, here's the code I use to pull the entire Debugger bundle:
[(Store.Registry pundleNamed: 'Tools-Debugger') ifNotNil: [:pundle |
pundle leafItems do: [:each | each markNotModified].
[pundle markNotModified; unloadFromImage] on: Warning do: [:ex | ex resume: true]].
Seems easy enough, right? Do the same for the rest of the tools, including the UIPainter, and you get a smaller runtime where you know exactly what got pulled out and why (as opposed to the somewhat arcane process that the RTP uses). This is where I ran into some problems though - in package Debugger-UI, there's a postUnloadBlock:
[
Notifier beDevelopment]
I think that's an artifact from when VW had its own debugger, and the PDP was an add on - unload it, and it restored the base behavior. Now, when you try to unload the debugger, that fires and immediately blows up. It seems like something that could be easily fixed; I tossed this code into my build script:
(Store.Registry pundleNamed: 'DebuggerUI') properties at: #postUnloadBlock put: [:pkg | ].
That worked, but the Debugger-UI Parcel still had that block. So I tried this:
(Parcel parcelNamed: 'Debugger-UI') properties at: #postUnloadBlock put: [:pcl | ].
And... no effect. I scratched my head over that one for a bit, then finally decided it was easier to just dynamically recompile the offending method (Notifier>>beDevelopment) than it was to keep pounding sand. That's a problem with the base system (VW 7.6). Then there are issues at the project level.
As part of the system here, there are two overrides to classes in UIPainter. Ideally, they would be in a development package instead of the master bundle, but right now, that's not my call. I'd still like to be able to unload UIPainter, so how do I get there? Simple - yank the overrides in the script, then remove the painter. I had to debug my way through the browser doing an override removal to find this code:
overrides := (Store.Registry pundleNamed: 'UIPainter') overrides select: [:each | each class = OverridenClass]. overrides do: [:each | each reinstall. Override removeOverride: each].
That restores the base behavior, removing the overrides from the master bundle (which are only needed during development) - and thus allowing UIPainter to be cleanly removed. That was almost all the interesting issues, but I ran across one more.
Yesterday, I did a test build with a colleague. The runtime looked good, but it threw an MNU - something that surprised me - the whole point of avoiding the RTP was to get more predictability, right? Well, it turns out that the RTP scan can cause you grief, but it's also smart enough to spot things you might miss. In this case, I missed this: we use HotDraw, which happens to live in the Refactory namespace. Where is that namespace defined? In the RB bundle. What's one of the things I'm removing? The RB. The fix is pretty simple here. Instead of yanking the entire RB bundle, I just yank all of the packages in the bundle except for the one that defines the needed namespace.
At least so far as I know now, that looks like all the issues - my little build tool produces a runtime, and it doesn't look like anything we need is missing. I'd be curious to know what similar issues other people have run into though - the ones I detailed above weren't always easy to spot, and who knows - I may well be missing something else :)
Smalltalk on Rubinius
Looks like a work in progress - Smalltalk on Rubinius.
Test Coverage in Pharo
There's a new test coverage tool for Pharo - Hapao:
Hapao is an innovative test coverage tool, implemented in the Pharo Smalltalk programming language. It employs an effective and intuitive graphical representa- tion to visually assess the quality of the coverage.
Follow the link for downloads, screenshots, and documentation.
JS 4U 25: Booleans
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Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we take a look at the Boolean class in Javascript. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. Join the Facebook Group to discuss the tutorials. You can view the archives here. |
To watch now, click on the image below:
If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.
You can also watch it on YouTube:
Technorati Tags: javascript, booleans
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Cincom Public Store Repository?
I guess things aren't back to normal at cincomsmalltalk.com yet - the public store repository is offline this evening.
Cincom Smalltalk Offline?
Looks like the Cincom Smalltalk website is down this morning. If you're on the VWNC mailing list, people have been posting about it there.
Update: - it came back while I was at lunch
ST 4U 36: The Pharo Debugger
Today's Smalltalk 4 You takes a look at the Pharo debugger, using it to diagnose and fix a small bug. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, click on the image below:
If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.
You can also watch it on YouTube:
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Playing Another Way
I've been doing (yet another) playthrough of "Fallout: New Vegas
- Low Sneak (not upped at all)
- Low Unarmed (not upped at all)
- Low Melee (not upped at all)
- Low Survival (not upped at all)
I was able to get through the Villas with difficulty - my character had high science, speech, guns, and lockpick - none of which were terribly useful out there. There are virtually no guns or energy weapons (the HoloRifle has very little ammo available), so you really, really need to go with unarmed or melee. So.... I started over.
That's been something of a revelation for me. So many encounters have been so much easier with high sneak - even with mediocre weapon skills, I can get close enough to line up and kill without ever using VATS. I expect that I'll get through the DLC much better this time (although I'll have to wait for the PC edition or get my work schedule to support some remote work - no XBox in the hotel). Even with that, it's been a lot of fun to play this way - it's almost like a new game.
Pharo in Grenoble
There's a code retreat (not entirely certain what that is - something like a BarCamp, sounds like, but my French is spotty) in Grenoble, January 21.
JS 4U 24: The Array Object
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Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we take a look at the Array class in Javascript. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. Join the Facebook Group to discuss the tutorials. You can view the archives here. |
To watch now, click on the image below:
If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.
You can also watch it on YouTube:
Technorati Tags: javascript, array
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Smalltalk Solutions Agenda
The schedule of talks and events at Smalltalk Solutions 2011 has been posted. Haven't registered yet? Why not do that now?
ST 4U 35: Doing a Build in VisualWorks
Today's Smalltalk 4 You takes a look at doing runtime builds in VisualWorks. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, click on the image below:
If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.
You can also watch it on YouTube:
Technorati Tags: smalltalk, runtime, builds, visualworks
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PlaneFi
Well, it's better than no connectivity, but not by much: this is what I get at 30,000 feet:
Technorati Tags: wifi
Independent Misinterpretations 13: The Future of Instantiations (AAC)
Welcome to episode 13 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck. This week David Buck and I interview Mike Taylor, President and CEO of Instantiations about the future directions for Instantiations. It was mostly a high level talk - if you want more of a tech focused look at Instantiations, go back to our two part interview with John O'Keefe - part 1 here, part 2 here.
You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes (or any other podcatching software) using this feed directly or in iTunes with this one.
To listen now, you can either download the mp3 edition, or the AAC edition. The AAC edition comes with chapter markers. You can subscribe to either edition of the podcast directly in iTunes; just search for Smalltalk and look in the Podcast results. You can subscribe to the mp3 edition directly using this feed, or the AAC edition using this feed using any podcatching software. You can also download the podcast in ogg format.
If you like the music we use, please visit Josh Woodward's site. We use the song Troublemaker for our intro/outro music. I'm sure he'd appreciate your support!
If you have feedback, send it to jarober@gmail.com - or visit us on Facebook - you can subscribe in iTunes using this iTunes enabled feed.. If you enjoy the podcast, pass the word - we would love to have more people hear about Smalltalk!
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Independent Misinterpretations 13: The Future of Instantiations
Welcome to episode 13 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck. This week David Buck and I interview Mike Taylor, President and CEO of Instantiations about the future directions for Instantiations. It was mostly a high level talk - if you want more of a tech focused look at Instantiations, go back to our two part interview with John O'Keefe - part 1 here, part 2 here.
You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes (or any other podcatching software) using this feed directly or in iTunes with this one.
To listen now, you can either download the mp3 edition, or the AAC edition. The AAC edition comes with chapter markers. You can subscribe to either edition of the podcast directly in iTunes; just search for Smalltalk and look in the Podcast results. You can subscribe to the mp3 edition directly using this feed, or the AAC edition using this feed using any podcatching software. You can also download the podcast in ogg format.
If you like the music we use, please visit Josh Woodward's site. We use the song Troublemaker for our intro/outro music. I'm sure he'd appreciate your support!
If you have feedback, send it to jarober@gmail.com - or visit us on Facebook - you can subscribe in iTunes using this iTunes enabled feed.. If you enjoy the podcast, pass the word - we would love to have more people hear about Smalltalk!
Enclosures:
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Specialized Ambulances
This is kind of amazing - Boston has retrofitted an ambulance for the extremely obese:
The ambulance is equipped with a special stretcher that can hold 850 pounds and a hydraulic lift with a 1,000 pound capacity
The part that made me do a double take though - a spokesman was quoted on the need:
The ambulance is likely to be needed two to four times a week, he said.
Cuis 3.0 is Out
Juan Vuletich has just announced the release of version 3.0 of Cuis.
