Smalltalk with James Robertson

I've been continuing to work on build automation, because I've also been asked to refactor the package/bundle structure we use here (in order to create a cleaner separation between the various deliverables we produce out of the codebase). 

I've talked about the tools I've built for this before; what I did more recently was take the GUI focused tool I built and made it scriptable.  So instead of a few menu picks, listbox selections and button presses, it's now more like this:

BuildTool 
	generateFor: logicalName
	useSmartBundle: aBoolean 
	version: versionString 
	startWithImage: imageName

And that can be fired off via a batch file (this is Windows) - and that in turn could be automated via higher level tools - maybe I'll start investigating something like Hudson. It's coming together pretty nicely, and I can now kick off a complete build, starting from a base visual.im, and within 15 minutes have a development image and a runtime, ready to go.

James Ladd will be at the NYC STUG on March 17th to talk about Redline Smalltalk:

Redline Smalltalk is Smalltalk for the Java Virtual Machine, because nothing is as productive as Smalltalk and the app has to run on the Java Virtual Machine. Redline compiles from source code directly to bytecode and is compatible with Pharo syntax. While Smalltalk on the JVM has been tried before there are some significant innovations coming with Redline, which will be detailed.

Follow the link for full details.

Technorati Tags: redline, jvm

As always, Eliot is full of implemetation details on the ins and outs of "marrying" an interpreter and a JIT inside the same VM.

Technorati Tags: jit, interpreter, cog

Dale Henreichs has announced the availability of the latest GLASS beta - to get started, go here.

Technorati Tags: seaside, glass

Looks like Google Charts for Seaside has been updated for VA Smalltalk:

Yuri Vrancken ported the SeasideGoogle Chart library to VASmalltalk and published it at vastgoodies this port worked with 8.0 Beta, but has never been updated since that time. I took the code and make it work for me under 8.03 remove some system changes (to make the loading process easier and therefore broke the original code and made it perhaps not compatible with the original Squeak version).

Technorati Tags: seaside, va smalltalk

Eliot Miranda explains the hows and whys of writing a JIT for a language like Smalltalk.

Technorati Tags: jit, squeak, cog

I expect that ESUG 2011 will be beyond my personal budget, but boy - I'd love to visit Edinburgh. The important thing is this: it's time to get those speaking proposals in:

This call includes:

• Developer program
• Free ESUG tickets
• International Workshop
• Student Volunteer
• Camp Smalltalk: Saturday 20th - Sunday 21st August 2011
• ESUG conference: Monday 22nd - Friday 26th August 2011

Technorati Tags: esug11, edinburgh

Silver Smalltalk has an updated website, powered by itself.

Spotted in Planet Squeak:

Alain Plaintec has published the call for papers for the International Workshop on Smalltalk Technologies which will be held on 23rd August during the ESUG 2011 conference in Edinburgh. The goal of the workshop is to “create a forum around advances or experience in Smalltalk and to trigger discussions and exchanges of ideas”.

Looks like you need to submit your proposals by June 17th, so you have plenty of time.

Technorati Tags: esug2011, iwst

Arden Thomas is talking about Polycephaly at the NY STUG this Thursday evening:

Please join us on Thurs Feb 24th for this interesting discussion with Cincom Smalltalk’s product manager. Open house starts at 6:30 followed by the presentation at 7pm. Beverages will be available.