Smalltalk with James Robertson

Today's Javascript 4 You looks at the height() function (with arguments) in JQuery. 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:

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You can also watch it on YouTube:

Can't get to Smalltalks 2011 in Argentina? Never fear, they are live streaming, starting tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: argentina, smalltalks

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at error handling for database development in VA Smalltalk. 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:

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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:

Today we'll look at setting (and unsetting) an error handler for database exceptions. In some cases, you may not want to catch all possible errors at the place they originate; you'll want a catchall handler specific to database issues. That turns out to be easy to set up in VA Smalltalk:

"set up an error handler for db work"
AbtDbmSystem activeDatabaseMgr  errorBlock: 
     [:error | Transcript show: 'Whoops, that did not work out for us: ', error errorText printString; cr].

To illustrate, let's execute a query that won't work:

"try a query that should throw an error"
resultCollection := OrderedCollection new.
querySpec := (AbtQuerySpec new)
	statement: 'SELECT EMAIL FROM PEOPLE'.
result := connection resultTableFromQuerySpec: querySpec.
result do: [:eachRow | resultCollection add: (eachRow)].
^resultCollection. 		

Instead of an error notifier, you get a message in the Transcript:

This can be useful when you are running a server system, and don't want a default notifier to pop up. Instead, you can log the error, and then have the system do something intelligent - quit, reset connections, whatever. If you want to reset to the default handling (for development, probably), just execute the same code with a nil argument:

"reset to default handling"
AbtDbmSystem activeDatabaseMgr  errorBlock: nil.

Now you'll see the default handling when you try that bad query:

Need more help? There's a screencast for other topics like this which you may want to watch. Questions? Try the "Chat with James" Google gadget over in the sidebar.

Technorati Tags: smalltalk, va smalltalk, database

Today's Javascript 4 You looks at the height() function (without arguments) in JQuery. 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, jquery, tutorial

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at exception handling in VisualWorks Smalltalk. 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, visualworks, exceptions

We enjoyed bringing you "That Podcast" - and soon, we'll be doing another podcast: Thu'umcast: A Skyrim Gameplay Diary. We'll have an iTunes feed, and a Facebook group, probably a Google + setup as well. Stay tuned - once the game launches, we'll start recording!

Technorati Tags: skyrim

Well, I did just have Mexican food...

Something Has Exploded In a Spectacular Fashion On Uranus

Welcome to episode 52 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck.

This week dave Buck and I welcome Alan Knight, Cincom's engineering manager to the podcast to talk about the new Dart language from Google. Dart has a fair amount of Smalltalk influences from its designers, and we talk about how some of that surfaced in the language..

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!

Technorati Tags: smalltalk, dart, google

Welcome to episode 52 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck.

This week dave Buck and I welcome Alan Knight, Cincom's engineering manager to the podcast to talk about the new Dart language from Google. Dart has a fair amount of Smalltalk influences from its designers, and we talk about how some of that surfaced in the language..

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!

Technorati Tags: smalltalk, dart, google

This is not the weather map I expect to be looking at in October in Maryland:

If we get any appreciable amount of ice and/or snow, a lot of trees and branches are going to come down, since most of the leaves are still up.

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at exception handling in Pharo Smalltalk. 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, pharo, exception, error handling

In a conversation about various Smalltalk environments on the VSE mailing list, .NET came up. What piqued my interest was this statement:

The default .API for .NET is *not* webservices. Anyone saying so is clearly trying to advocate a language missing real .NET bindings.

Never mind the context, or even the obvious edge in the statement - that's not what grabbed me. It took me back to Steve Yegge's rant about Google (and their non-support for a platform). But again, this isn't really about that rant, or about Google, either - it just made me think about the difference between how Microsoft approaches things and how Apple does.

The impression I get (from way on the outside, admittedly) is that Apple has "a way" of doing code. There are standards, both at the API level and at the UI presentation level. Microsoft? Not so much. There was an obvious push from one influential group for .NET a few years back, but it largely foundered - most app dev at MS still uses C++, and .NET is really only focused out now.

I'd say that Microsoft is just too big to be that focused, but apparently Amazon got religion (at the behest of a really committed CEO). Likewise, Apple is obviously focused - and that makes me wonder: is the real difference having a CEO who's willing to jump in and get his hands dirty? Lots of firms have CEO's who advocate best practices, and then leave their team to execute on that as best they can. Is having a control freak a better way?

Today's Javascript 4 You looks at the scrollTop() function in JQuery. 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:

Todor Todorov has set up a project, and will be talking about it at Smalltalks 2011.