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st4u

ST 4U 69: Create a New ENVY User

April 13, 2011 8:35:55.447

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at creating a new ENVY users - just as you shouldn't work as "administrator" on Windows, you really shouldn't work as "Library Supervisor" in VA Smalltalk. If you prefer a written walkthrough to video, then skip down to it. 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:

ENVY Users

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:


When you first set up your ENVY source code repository, there's one user set up - the Library Supervisor. While you could just use that, it's akin to doing everything as the administrator on Windows, or as root on Unix - it works, but carries some risk (the user is simply too powerful). GIven that, it's best to set up a standard user for your regular interactions with ENVY.

As you develop code in VA Smalltalk, everything you do is captured by ENVY - there's basically no chance of you losing code. What we'll look at today is how to set up a new ENVY user for you to use when you aren't administering the repository. First, pull down the "System Menu" on the launcher, as shown below:

ENVY Users

You'll be prompted with a small dialog that asks you to fill in three things. Normally, unique name and network name will be the same thing:

ENVY Users

Next we'll change users. If you've set up ENVY in the default way, you won't be prompted for a password when you switch users. Pull down the "System" menu again, as shown below, and select "Change User":

ENVY Users

You'll see the following dialog come up, with all current ENVY users listed. Select the one you just created, and hit Ok:

ENVY Users

That's all there is to it - you can now start creating VA applications, and all of your code will be saved in the repository under this new user instead of under "Library Supervisor". We'll get into using the tools to create applications and deal with other repository uses in future screencasts.

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

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posted by James Robertson

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Smalltalk in Seattle

April 13, 2011 20:40:26.131

There's a Smalltalk user's group in Seattle again. No meetings scheduled yet - so if you're in Seattle and using Smalltalk, why not help out with that?

posted by James Robertson

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Smalltalk on the JVM

April 13, 2011 20:45:12.281

I've seen a lot of efforts in this direction over the years, most recently the RedLine guys. This one sounds like it's got a real project to push onto the JVM though, so maybe there's a bit more of an immediate motivation.

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

HPI Seaside Tutorial Updated

April 13, 2011 20:47:03.481

The really nice HPI Seaside tutorial has been updated for Seaside 3.0 - check it out.

posted by James Robertson

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js4u

JS 4U 47: JQuery Effects 2

April 14, 2011 7:16:55.228

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we look at using JQuery selectors in conjunction with events. 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:

JQuery Effects

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

CUIS 3.2 Ships

April 14, 2011 13:23:56.000

Juan Vuletich has pushed out Cuis 3.2. Some of what's new:

  • Enhanced look for menus and several other widgets
  • TIFFReader (100% Smalltalk code)
  • Many fixes and code enhancements and cleanup, especially in Morphic (World, Canvas, DamageRecorder, etc)
  • Text / TextAttribute cleanup

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posted by James Robertson

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DRM

Why DRM Sucks

April 14, 2011 15:31:58.000

Yet another example in the "What could possibly go wrong" files for DRM:

Thanks to a combination of DRM idiocy and technical and communications failures on the part of EA and Bioware, I (along with thousands of fellow EA/Bioware customers) spent my free time this past weekend needlessly trapped in troubleshooting hell, in a vain attempt to get my single-player game to load. The problem, it turns out, was the Bioware's DRM authorization servers, and as of Tuesday afternoon, the situation still is not resolved. For four days now, those of us who made the mistake of shelling out for Dragon Age:Origins (especially the Ultimate Edition) have been unable to play the single-player game that we paid for. And the unlucky souls who bought the game on Friday haven't yet seen it work properly.

DRM is a fairly complex scheme that makes a number of assumptions about how things should work. If anything breaks down along the way, you just get locked out of stuff you have a legal right to use. In my exercise room, I ended up setting up an ancient PC in order to share a connection with my XBox (the Wifi adaptor for the 360 is priced really stupidly). Why did I do this? Because a few months back, when I was playing ME2, I noticed that the game started demanding a connection in order to authorize DLC (and thus let me play).

THis all leads to very fragile systems, with end customers being on the short, irritated end of the stick. And for what, really? Go google for cracked versions of games, and you'll discover that they are easy enough to find. All DRM does is stand in the way of legitimate users. The people willing to steal are doing that anyway.

I should note that this specific DRM issue was fixed by EA, and DAO apparently works again. That doesn't change the facts though.

posted by James Robertson

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humor

I've Been in that Meeting

April 15, 2011 6:22:21.105

Is this video from the wayback machine, or of some of the meetings I attend?

posted by James Robertson

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st4u

ST 4U 70: Getting Started with Cuis

April 15, 2011 7:22:58.371

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at Cuis - a smaller, more focused Squeak derived Smalltalk created by Juan Vuletich. 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:

Cuis

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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Pharo, Load Balancing, and Apache

April 15, 2011 19:29:31.519

Nicholas Petton shows you how to scale with Pharo and Apache.

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posted by James Robertson

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itNews

Comcast Giveth and Taketh Away

April 16, 2011 10:59:39.523

The new high speed Comcast service - available in my area - sounds interesting. 105 mbps down, and a not terrible 10 mbps up (FIOS gives me better than that up, and while 105 is better than 20, I'm not unhappy with what I have). Here's the killer though: the 250 gb data cap is still on that deal. That may sound like a lot of data, but at that b/w, that's 5 or so hours of HD video. I can totally believe that I'd blow through that much in a month - 3 Netflix rentals might do it.

Why do that? Well, Comcast wants to sell you their triple play (phone/net/tv), and shove you over to on-demand, which won't be capped (but will be charged on a per use basis for all the good stuff). Net Neutrality, you say? Hah - look into the proposals. They all aid and abet this sort of thing with the blessing of law. The net neutrality advocates are today's "useful idiots" as far as the big ISPs are concerned.

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posted by James Robertson

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music

Who Goes to Record Stores?

April 16, 2011 14:19:37.549

The 70's called, and they want this day back :)

posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Long Form Pharo

April 17, 2011 11:02:25.256

If you're looking for an in depth explanation of Pharo, the "Pharocasts with Experts" series might be what you're lookng for.

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posted by James Robertson

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podcast

IM 25: Smalltalk and Big Data

April 17, 2011 11:20:19.456

Welcome to episode 25 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck. This week's podcast was recorded at Smalltalk Solutions 2011 - it's Avi Bryant's keynote address on "Smalltalk and Big Data". If you would prefer to watch the presentation (and/or see his slides, visit the STIC site. I've also embedded the video below.

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!

Smalltalk and Big Data, by Avi Bryant from Smalltalk Industry Council on Vimeo.

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IM 25: Smalltalk and Big Data (AAC)

April 17, 2011 11:20:38.816

Welcome to episode 25 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck. This week's podcast was recorded at Smalltalk Solutions 2011 - it's Avi Bryant's keynote address on "Smalltalk and Big Data". If you would prefer to watch the presentation (and/or see his slides, visit the STIC site. I've also embedded the video below.

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!

Smalltalk and Big Data, by Avi Bryant from Smalltalk Industry Council on Vimeo.

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[im25.m4a ( Size: 29558388 )]

posted by James Robertson

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st4u

ST 4U 71: Find that Implementation

April 18, 2011 8:51:44.033

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at interrupting a Smalltalk function in order to see how it works (and thus be able to customize it in the environment). While we're looking at VisualWorks for the example, the methodology applies across all Smalltalks. 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:

Exploring

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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Camp Smalltalk at ESUG 2010

April 18, 2011 9:49:52.568

Niall Ross' typically all encompassing report from the ESUG 2010 Camp Smalltalk is now available.

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posted by James Robertson

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Smalltalk in London

April 18, 2011 14:34:11.202

The UK Smalltalk User's Group is meeting tonight (6:30 GMT) - "10 Smalltalk Ideas in 20 Minutes"

posted by James Robertson

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gadgets

Coming Soon - "Patch Tuesday" for Cars?

April 18, 2011 19:18:13.000

Just as your OS and phones now need regular updates, it looks like your car will need the same thing.

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posted by James Robertson

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js4u

JS 4U 48: JQuery and CSS

April 19, 2011 11:11:43.463

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we look at using JQuery selectors in conjunction with css, in order to change specific css properties on a page . 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:

JQuery and CSS

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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This is Seaside

April 19, 2011 11:17:15.113

Want a real world example of a Seaside app? Here's one in the financial sector - and it's a GLASS app.

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Squeak for Android Progress

April 20, 2011 9:57:36.259

Dmitry Golubovsky has made some progress on getting Squeak running on Android:

I am glad to announce that the Squeak Port for Android Tablets [1] has reached its first milestone. Work has been done towards fixing certain usability issues such as better integration with Android Input Methods, access to local file system, etc.

There's more info at the link, including download info. The one big downside so far - no socket support yet.

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posted by James Robertson

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st4u

ST 4U 72: Exploring VA Smalltalk

April 20, 2011 11:17:32.460

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at one way of exploring VA Smalltalk. One of the things I like to do with a system I'm not terribly familiar with is start from something I do know, and explore from there. In this screencast, we take a bit of code I know well, and use it to jump into the tools and system. If you prefer a written walkthrough to video, then skip down to it. 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:

Exploring VA

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:


One of the best ways that I know of to explore a new Smalltalk system is to take a piece of code I've written quite a lot in other Smalltalks, and start exploring the system using that as a jumping off point. That way, I'm not stumbling over both the less familiar system and the code at the same time. Translating that to VA Smalltalk, I took this as my starting point:


count := 1.
block := [[true] whileTrue:
				[count := count + 1.
				Transcript show: count printString; cr.
				(Delay forSeconds: 2) wait]].
proc := block forkAt: Processor userBackgroundPriority.


It's the core of just about every server process I've ever created in Smalltalk - except that the real ones do actual work instead of writing to the Transcript. For our purposes here though, this is perfect. Let's start by highlighting Processor in the workspace, right clicking, and selecting inspect. This is what you should see:

ProcessorScheduler

From there, it might be interesting to look at the implementation. So back in the launcher, select Tools>>browse class:

Browse Class

You should see the class browser, allowing you to start looking at the implementation:

Browsing Class

One thing that's different about VA, at least compared to Squeak, Pharo, or VisualWorks - look at the three tabs above the selector pane on the right - public, private, all. In VA, private methods are a bit more segregated. There's nothing in the system that prevents you from invoking a private method, but VA does make them visibly separate in a way that most Smalltalks don't. This makes it much more obvious when you are crossing the divide between a public API and a private one.

Now we might want to look at the actual Process class - we have one running, and it would be useful to be able to control it. Let's go back to the workspace, and inspect the proc variable:

Inspect a Process

Inspector on a Process

From here, you can browse the class directly. On the toolbar for the inspector, find the Browse Hierarchy button and click it:

Hierarchy Browser

Clicking around we spot the #terminate method, and we go back to the workspace, invoke that code and kill the running process:

Terminate a Process

In future tutorials, we'll start examining each of these tools - browsers and inspectors - in depth. Today's goal was to show you how you can use a small bit of pre-existing knowledge as a jumping off point to explore VA Smalltalk

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

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Test Coverage in Pharo

April 20, 2011 16:00:21.000

It's not enough to write unit tests - you need to have a handle on how good your test coverage is. For Pharo, there's Hapao - and this morning, a new screencast on using it.

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Smalltalk and GTK

April 20, 2011 18:26:09.000

Gwenael Casaccio shows you how to use GTK with GNU Smalltalk in this short tutorial.

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posted by James Robertson

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