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js4u

Javascript 4 U 11: The Switch Statement

November 30, 2010 5:56:26.470

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we look at the switch statement 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, use the viewer 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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posted by James Robertson

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general

Screencast Service Changes

November 30, 2010 8:19:07.584

I've just had a look at the Amazon data transfer charges for November, and there's a good news/bad news aspect to it. The good news is that the videos and podcasts seem to be popular. The bad news is that popularity isn't free :)

So, starting tomorrow I'm going to kill the iTunes enabled video feeds for the Smalltalk and Javascript screencasts. The existing content will stay where it is, but I won't be tossing more into those feeds. I'll still be pushing content, but it'll all go to YouTube and Facebook - it'll all be available, and I'll keep updating the index pages, but the iTunes feeds will stop updating.

The bill is small now, but the trendline shows me what will happen if I keep pushing video there :) So thanks for watching, and you can keep watching - just look for it on the blog proper instead in the iTunes feed.

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posted by James Robertson

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itNews

Doesn't the EU Have Bigger Problems?

November 30, 2010 15:53:47.672

The EU is taking time out from its bank problems to launch an investigation of Google. As Danny Sullivan says:

I did a search at Google today for “cars” and was shocked. Rather than list links allowing me to search for “cars” on Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, Voila, Naver and Yandex, Google instead favored its own search results. I’m glad the EU will be investigating whether this favoritism violates anti-trust laws.

Oh, the humanity. Next they'll tell me that media sites favor their own content, and that newspapers favor their own stories. It's just terrible; how are we poor end users supposed to handle it all? I mean, typing "bing.com" in the address bar instead of "google.com" is such a chore...

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posted by James Robertson

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podcasting

Second Update on Videos

November 30, 2010 16:39:44.359

I may have found a way to host the video for the screencasts in an iTunes compatible way that won't break me; hat tip to Randal for that. I'll see how it works out in the morning.

posted by James Robertson

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st4u

Smalltalk 4 U 20: Keyword Messages

December 1, 2010 6:03:38.070

Today's Smalltalk 4 You continues with "ProfStef", which is part of the "one click" Pharo download. Today we we get started with message sending syntax - specifically, keyword messages (message sends with arguments). 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:

Keyword Messages

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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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

The Power of Smalltalk

December 1, 2010 12:59:31.000

Eliot Miranda explains how awesome Smalltalk is for dealing with hard problems - nothing beats a live execution environment.

posted by James Robertson

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Smalltalk in NYC

December 1, 2010 13:00:24.992

The NYSTUG meeting scheduled for tonight (December 1) has been moved to December 8 - check the website for details.

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posted by James Robertson

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fnvdiary

That Podcast 12: Just Dance

December 1, 2010 23:27:44.639

That Podcast: FNV Diary

Welcome to episode 12 of "That Podcast: An FNV Diary" - a podcast where Michael Lucas-Smith and I document our trials and tribulations in Fallout: New Vegas.

On today's podcast, Michael and James talk about the dreaded Vault 34 (Brrrrr), working for Caesar, a few mods you can get for the PC version of the game and - believe it or not - Lady Gaga. To see what we mean about that last one, follow the link to the YouTube video.

You can subscribe in iTunes (or any podcatcher) using this feed, or this one for the AAC edition. You can get to the podcast directly in iTunes via this link. You can also go to the iTunes store and leave a comment, or join the Facebook Group and discuss the podcast.

If you want to download the podcast directly, I've provided it in three formats:

Got feedback? Send it to James. We'd really appreciate it if you head on over to iTunes and leave a comment - enjoy the podcast, and we'll see you in the wastelands!

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posted by James Robertson

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fnvdiaryAAC

That Podcast 12: Just Dance (AAC)

December 1, 2010 23:27:48.609

That Podcast: FNV Diary

Welcome to episode 12 of "That Podcast: An FNV Diary" - a podcast where Michael Lucas-Smith and I document our trials and tribulations in Fallout: New Vegas.

On today's podcast, Michael and James talk about the dreaded Vault 34 (Brrrrr), working for Caesar, a few mods you can get for the PC version of the game and - believe it or not - Lady Gaga. To see what we mean about that last one, follow the link to the YouTube video.

You can subscribe in iTunes (or any podcatcher) using this feed, or this one for the AAC edition. You can get to the podcast directly in iTunes via this link. You can also go to the iTunes store and leave a comment, or join the Facebook Group and discuss the podcast.

If you want to download the podcast directly, I've provided it in three formats:

Got feedback? Send it to James. We'd really appreciate it if you head on over to iTunes and leave a comment - enjoy the podcast, and we'll see you in the wastelands!

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[fnvdiary12.m4a ( Size: 20803122 )]

posted by James Robertson

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js4u

Javascript 4 U 12: Prompters

December 2, 2010 6:16:37.982

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we look at the built in prompters (dialogs) 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:

Prompters

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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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

ESUG 2011: Edinburgh

December 2, 2010 6:29:55.892

ESUG 2011 will be held August 22-August 26 in Edinburgh, Scotland - the announcement just went up on the ESUG site.

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posted by James Robertson

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esug2010

The Reef Project at ESUG 2010

December 2, 2010 14:36:04.924

Here's another video from ESUG 2010, which was held in Barcelona, Spain, the week of September 13, 2010. In this presentation, Esteban Lorenzano talks about Reef - a JQuery Model/View project for Seaside. You can watch using the embedded player below, or follow this link to Vimeo.

Reef for Seaside from James Robertson on Vimeo.

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posted by James Robertson

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social media

Quitting Facebook is Not a Sign of Courage

December 2, 2010 21:00:23.265

I love the level of self importance from some people. There are the types who are "proud" that they don't watch TV, the types who are "proud" that they don't play video games - and, apparently, the types who are proud that they quit using Twitter and Facebook:

The last week or so has been difficult, I feel disconnected from the hive mind, but I won’t be back until there’s an open, interoperable protocol for real-time publishing I can run on my own server.

Right. Here's the thing: Either a tool has value to you (and you use it) or it doesn't (and you don't). It's not some kind of epic moral issue.

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posted by James Robertson

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st4u

ST 4 U 21: Message Sending Precedence

December 3, 2010 7:42:38.970

Today's Smalltalk 4 You continues with "ProfStef", which is part of the "one click" Pharo download. Today we we look at message sending precedence within a Smalltalk statement. 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:

Message Precedence

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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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

UI Tools for Squeak and Pharo

December 3, 2010 13:51:34.281

Squeak and Pharo now have modern UI building tools:

Beside the Polymorph based UI Buidler for Pharo there is now also a Morphic based one for Squeak.

The open source tools are catching up to the expensive commercial ones quickly.

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Plugging Seaside and Apache Together

December 3, 2010 17:34:21.968

Phillippe Marschall has just announced a new Seaside/Apache adaptor that makes Smalltalk plug in better:

The AJP adatpor is a server adaptor dedicated to connecting Seaside to Apache. You can't use it without Apache because it doesn't understand HTTP. Instead it uses the binary AJPv13 protocol which is more efficient and simpler to parse. The result is a lightweight adaptor without any external dependencies but Grease/Seaside. In the multipart parser special attention has been paid to avoid unnecessary copy operations. Streaming however is currently not supported.

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

VA Smalltalk and Seaside

December 4, 2010 10:17:38.200

Need to mix together VA Smalltalk, Seaside, and then deploy it all as a Windows Service?Louis La Brunda has the answers for you. Follow the link and download the instructions from there.

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

November Smalltalk Archives

December 4, 2010 10:22:43.970

posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Debugger Driven Development

December 4, 2010 12:18:57.665

Spotted in seandenigris.com:

An amazing feature of Smalltalk is that you can create methods right from the debugger.  This fits nicely with “write the code you wish you had.”

VisualWorks has been able to do that for awhile - it's nice to see the capability out in the OSS world. As I said the other day, the open source Smalltalks are catching up - the various commercial vendors are going to need to start paying serious attention soon.

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Heading to Dallas

December 5, 2010 0:41:08.332

As some of you know, I accepted a new job recently - I'm heading to Dallas tomorrow, and I start on Monday. I'll be contracting at Northrop Grumman, on their MES project. It sounds like it'll be a fun project to be part of, although it's a bit of a commute :)

While I'm there, I'll see if there's anything I can do to perk up the local Smalltalk community. See you in Dallas!

posted by James Robertson

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podcast

Independent Misinterpretations 8: Smalltalk Training From the Cloud

December 5, 2010 0:57:46.152

Welcome to episode 8 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith>, and David Buck. This week Dave and I spoke about the VW Intro course I taught last week. I used Dave's material, and delivered the course over the web using Adobe Connect Pro. That worked fairly well, and we discussed that on the podcast.

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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posted by James Robertson

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podcastAAC

Independent Misinterpretations 8: Smalltalk Training From the Cloud

December 5, 2010 0:58:35.102

Welcome to episode 8 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith>, and David Buck. This week Dave and I spoke about the VW Intro course I taught last week. I used Dave's material, and delivered the course over the web using Adobe Connect Pro. That worked fairly well, and we discussed that on the podcast.

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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posted by James Robertson

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travel

Ancient Discoveries

December 5, 2010 13:15:50.867

The backpack I've been carrying my laptop in ripped, so I delved into my vast collection of laptop bags - some from machines issued to me years ago, some from trade shows, one larger rolling bag I bought myself. I finally settled on an old Dell bag - it's in good shape - seems I barely used it - has lots of pockets for wires, and a pouch my iPad will fit into nicely.

There was a surprise waiting for me though - when I opened it up, there was an old Toshiba Satellite Pro sitting in there. If I had the time, I'd boot it up - gosh knows what rev of Windows is on the thing, what the machine specs are, or how many megabytes (it's that old) of disk space it has.

Memories :)

posted by James Robertson

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travel

Travel Life

December 5, 2010 20:02:14.000

Oh my gosh, this is so true :)

posted by James Robertson

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js4u

JS 4 U 13: Returning From a Javascript Function

December 6, 2010 1:20:54.814

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we look at the built in prompters (dialogs) 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:

Prompters

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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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Pharo and ODBC

December 6, 2010 13:31:43.000

Torsten contributes to Pharocasts with a "how to" on Pharo and ODBC:

You often have to access existing databases when you develop an application. One way is to use ODBC. I created a small small screencast to show you how

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posted by James Robertson

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general

Getting Started

December 6, 2010 19:23:56.918

I'm writing this early on during my first day, but I have no network access - as with most larger companies, there are network security issues, so I can't just toss my Mac on the network - maybe I'll actually look into tethering as I go along :)

Interestingly enough, my start coincided with a new installation of the application I'll be working on, so I'm getting an architectural overview. Pretty useful, all things considered - it's nice to get a broad based idea about a project before you have to dive right into it. Tomorrow I go back in front of the group though - I'm supposed to deliver a Smalltalk overview. They have a pretty agressive schedule for that - I'm expected to get beyond the point I delivered last week over a five day class. I started trying to manage expectations on that yesterday :)

My hotel is ok - free breakfast, decent WiFi (better than what I got at the place I usually stayed when I went to Cincinnati, and I'm paying almost $60 less per night). There's a small exercise room as well, a fridge and microwave. For meals I'm going to have to either eat out downscale or buy microwave stuff - we'll see how that goes.

In the meantime, I'll be away from my usual network haunts during the work day.

posted by James Robertson

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st4u

Smalltalk 4 U 22: Arithmetic and Message Precedence

December 7, 2010 1:23:36.451

Today's Smalltalk 4 You continues with "ProfStef", which is part of the "one click" Pharo download. Today we we take a look at how the message sending precedence rules in Smalltalk impact arithmetic. 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:

Precedence

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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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Back To Training

December 7, 2010 7:29:15.902

My first job will be to deliver some (very compressed) training. On the project I'm on, there's a deployment rolling out to a new group, and some of the developers are in town to learn about the app. As part of that process, they need to learn Smalltalk. So.... I'm doing that part :)

The schedule is tough - we have 2 1/2 days to get them through a basic intro - and having just spent a week doing this, I have my doubts about how much will stick in this short a span of time.

There's nothing for it though - I'll see what we can do in the amount of time we have, and then refer them off to the extensive library of screencasts over at the Cincom Smalltalk website.

Oh, one small thought on those - if you've found those screencasts useful, be aware that there aren't any new ones coming in that particular series (I'm covering Pharo in my new series of casts). As Cincom releases new versions of their products, the older screencasts (especially the ones dealing with the tools) are going to start getting dated. I wsn't completely caught up to VW 771 and OS 821 when I left, so that's already happening for some of them :)

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Smalltalks 2010 Video

December 7, 2010 7:31:53.000

Spotted in Ten is a good number

You can check Smalltalks 2010's videos at FAST's website. Enjoy!

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posted by James Robertson

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