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st4u

ST 4U 301: Benchmarking Tools in VA Smalltalk

October 26, 2012 13:17:24.972

Today's Smalltalk 4 You starts looking at the benchmarking tools available 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:

Benchmarking.

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 start taking a look at the benchmarking tools available in VA Smalltalk. First, we'll need to load the relevant feature:

Load

Next, we'll go to the "Tools" menu in the launcher, and pick "Open Benchmark Workshop".

Benchmarking

THe tool has a code pane on the left, used to enter the code you want to benchmark. However, that doesn't operate the way you might expect - First, enter the code you want into the text area:

Benchmarking

Now, right click and select the "Save" option in the menu. You'll be warned about creating a scratch edition of an application; just ignore that:

Save

Once you've done that, the new benchmark is available from the drop down list at the top of the tool:

Benchmarking

At this point, we can run any of the saved tests. We'll get to that in the next screencast.

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.

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posted by James Robertson

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games

Someone at Microsoft Found a Nut

October 26, 2012 19:09:48.000

Spotted in Polygon:

Speaking to Gizmodo, Windows Corporate VP of Web Services Antoine Leblond said the guidelines will be changed by December. "It basically ends up disqualifying games that would be ESRB Mature," he said of the original guidelines. In announcing that the guideline changes would be introduced in December, Leblond added: "This is to give developers a heads up that that's where we're going, so they can have the peace of mind around developing the kinds of games that will have those ratings."

I suspect that the original guidelines were put out by someone who doesn't play games, and was looking to prevent certain classes of "mature" apps from landing in the store with the MS stamp of approval. It probably took awhile for the people at MS who play games - and understood the impact - to get the problem explained to the powers that be :)

posted by James Robertson

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copyright

Could Google Be Less Helpful?

October 27, 2012 1:29:50.897

This morning I got an email from Google, telling me that a video had been flagged for copyright violation. I went to the page they gave me for information, and found this enlightening statement:

Visual content administered by: FFT

The video in question is a screencast (one I did years ago, actually), showing VisualWorks controlling iTunes. I have no idea who "FFT" is, but there's no way that this video violates any copyright of theirs.

The larger question I have is, who the heck is "FFT"? If Google is going to listen to validity free copyright yelling, the least they can do is tell us who it is that's making the claim.

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posted by James Robertson

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weather

Here Comes Sandy

October 28, 2012 2:29:43.947

Don't be surprised if there aren't any screencasts the first couple of days of this week - I may be out of power:

We'll see how things shape up as things progress, but the storm tracks make it look like a not so fun week here on the east coast.

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posted by James Robertson

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podcast

IM 100: Squeak Board Update

October 28, 2012 21:45:43.532

Welcome to episode 100 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson and David Buck.

This week James interviewed two of the current Squeak Board members - Craig Latta and Chris Cunnington. The topic? Where Squeak is now, and where it's headed.

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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podcastAAC

IM 100: Squeak Board Update (AAC)

October 28, 2012 21:48:53.532

Welcome to episode 100 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson and David Buck.

This week James interviewed two of the current Squeak Board members - Craig Latta and Chris Cunnington. The topic? Where Squeak is now, and where it's headed.

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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st4u

ST 4U 302: Adding To the Pharo Help System

October 29, 2012 10:19:10.243

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks a little deeper at the help system in Pharo - you can extend it easily to include your own help for your own projects. 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:

Help

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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weather

This is a Weather Event

October 29, 2012 10:37:35.744

I have to admit, the radar map is impressive:

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posted by James Robertson

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weather

Power Down

October 29, 2012 14:57:21.755

Sandy has knocked us off the grid for now - and with how bad the storm looks on the radar maps, I don't expect to see it restored anytime soon.  I hope I'm wrong about that, but at this point, we'll probably end up losing most of the stuff in the fridge and freezer....

posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Smalltalk Tag Support in Amber

October 29, 2012 15:55:14.000

This new feature of Amber looks pretty fun:

I just pushed a small change that allows us to write script tags in smalltalk. You can now add scripts like the following to you HTML pages:


<script type='text/smalltalk'> window alert: 'Hello from Amber!' </script> 

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posted by James Robertson

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weather

The Power Came Back!

October 29, 2012 16:56:32.034

I have low hopes for it staying on, but I'm hoping it does for another 35 minutes at least - we tossed some chicken we had in the fridge in the oven, and we're hoping for the best :)

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posted by James Robertson

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weather

The Big Apple Gets Hammered

October 30, 2012 8:31:37.705

Sounds like NYC got hammered. Not sure there's a good way to prepare for a storm this big ahead of time, either - at least not on a metro-wide basis....

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posted by James Robertson

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weather

One More Power Bounce

October 30, 2012 11:49:40.204

With any luck, that was the last one - we had about 2 hours without power this morning, but it bounced back on. We have a little bit of water damage that needs to be looked into, but things are good now.

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posted by James Robertson

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js4u

JS 4U 217: Custom Map Overlay Images

October 30, 2012 12:23:01.213

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You looks at dropping customized (drawn) icons onto a map overlay using 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:

custom icons

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

Would He Panic if he Saw Smalltalk?

October 30, 2012 14:46:41.000

If the IDE is a Code Smell for this guy, you have to wonder whether Smalltalk would give him the shakes :)

posted by James Robertson

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st4u

ST 4U 303: Using the VA Smalltalk Benchmark Tool

October 31, 2012 10:04:42.448

Today's Smalltalk 4 You takes an overview of the benchmarking tools in VA Smalltalk. If you don't know what to load, get started here. 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:

Benchmarking.

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 run the benchmarking tools in VA Smalltalk and see what they do. If you don't know what to load, get started here.

Following on from last time, create a small benchmark test, and then click the "run" button in the tool:

benchmark

You should see something like what's above. There are a number of view/benchmark options to explore - we'll get to those next time

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.

Enclosures:
[st4u303-iPhone.m4v ( Size: 3129632 )]

posted by James Robertson

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js4u

JS 4U 218: Dashed Lines In an Overlay

November 1, 2012 9:29:02.900

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You looks at using dashed lines in your map overlay. 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:

dashed line

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

WebSockets and Smalltalk

November 2, 2012 11:11:36.588

Looks like the new release of AidaWeb - for Pharo, Squeak, and VisualWorks - is the first place to see WebSocket support in Smalltalk.

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posted by James Robertson

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st4u

ST 4U 304: VA Smalltalk Benchmarking Options

November 2, 2012 13:11:43.175

Today's Smalltalk 4 You goes into more depth on the VA Smalltalk benchmarking tool. 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:

benchmarks.

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 the options in the VA Smalltalk benchmarking tool. If you want to start at the beginning of this tutorial section, get started here - and then have a look at the second installment.

Following on from last time, create a small benchmark test, make sure to save it. Now pull down the "View" menu. Notice the different options? Select them one at a time, try running the test, and see what results you get in the view.

view

Notice which part of the UI changes. Now pull down the "Time" menu - again, try a few of those:

time

Finally, run the tests with a few of the combinations and look at the results:

results

Finally, have a look at the "Results" menu - note that you can save and load benchmarks for later review and comparison.

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.

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posted by James Robertson

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games

DragonBorn DLC Coming?

November 2, 2012 17:47:18.396

Spotted in Polygon - All

A teaser image for what may be upcoming downloadable content for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was posted to Bethesda's Twitter account this afternoon, along with the announcement of a full trailer coming Monday, Nov. 5.

I wonder if they'll time it for the one year anniversary of the game's release?

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posted by James Robertson

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smalltalk

Torsten Bergmann: Smalltalk is cool

November 2, 2012 18:31:31.000

Via Torsten:

A popular german computer magazine (ct') has a special issue on programming. On the title it states: "Cool Languages: Haskell, Smalltalk and D".

posted by James Robertson

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