Smalltalk with James Robertson

Here's another ESUG 2009 video - Karsten Kuche talking about SeaBreeze, a UI builder and library for Seaside, built in VisualWorks.

You can download the video directly here. If you like this kind of video, why not subscribe to "Smalltalk Videos"?

Technorati Tags: esug09, video, brest, france, seaside, smalltalk

My wife's Macbook (now fairly old, I guess) seems to be having a problem - while the battery has power (there's a button you can press to check on the white macbooks), the machine isn't actually getting any. So it's off to the Apple store for an appointment today - it should still be under AppleCare, so at least it won't cost me an arm and a leg...

When I first saw the slashdot posting, I expected to find some ill informed political argument about Linux - but no, it's actually a botnet plague using Chuck Norris' name. Just when I think computer security stories can't get stranger...

Technorati Tags: router, passwords

Today's screencast takes a brief, introductory overview of Xtreams - a new streaming library for Smalltalk that is under early development. You can listen to our podcast on Xtreams here, and get started by visiting the Google Code Page.

You can download the video directly here. If you like this kind of video, why not subscribe to "Smalltalk Daily"?

Technorati Tags: streams, xtreams, screencast

I like the idea of textbooks that can be updated:

Professors will be able to reorganize or delete chapters; upload course syllabuses, notes, videos, pictures and graphs; and perhaps most notably, rewrite or delete individual paragraphs, equations or illustrations.

However, that's not really the reason this idea is being pushed:

The modifiable e-book editions will be much cheaper than traditional print textbooks. "Psychology," for example, which has a list price of $134.29 (available on Barnes & Noble's Web site for $122.73), will sell for $48.76 in the DynamicBooks version.

That price cut is intended to gut the market for used textbooks (just like game publishers would like to gut that trade in their space). At least for textbooks, it's driving prices down.

Technorati Tags: textbooks, e-books

This week Michael and I spoke to Brian Rice about Slate - a language inspired by Smalltalk, Self, and other dynamic languages. To quote from the Slate website:

Slate is a prototype-based object-oriented programming language based on Self, CLOS, and Smalltalk-80. Slate syntax is intended to be as familiar as possible to a Smalltalker, for the clarity of messages as phrases. Unlike the Smalltalk family, methods within Slate can be assigned to a signature of objects, instead of being installed on one favored receiver.

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.

To listen immediately, use the player below:

If you like the music we use, please visit Josh Woodward's site. We use the song Effortless for our intro/outro music. I'm sure he'd appreciate your support!

If you have feedback, send it to smalltalkpodcasts@cincom.com - or visit us on Facebook or Ning - you can vote for the Podcast Alley, and subscribe on iTunes. If you enjoy the podcast, pass the word - we would love to have more people hear about Smalltalk!

Technorati Tags: podcast, slate, prototyping

I was a little worried that the earlier snow storms might have delayed passport processing (I need mine in a week) - but lo and behold, the new passport arrived sometime this week by mail (I've been a bit lax in checking the mailbox). Crisis averted; I'll see you in London and Paris early next month!

I just finished reading Freedom - the second (and final, I think) part of the story Daniel Suarez started with Daemon. I spent most of the first book debating which "side" to root for; by the end of the second book, it became apparent that the answer to that was not terribly simple. Suarez did set the libertarian-ish techno-elite up as the sympathetic side, but with plentiful "be careful what you wish for" warnings. It was a very fast moving pair of books; I consumed the two stories in days (it would have been less time were I not still obsessed with Dragon Age: Origins :)

The main complaint I have with the story is the prominent place that Suarez assigns mainstream (especially cable tv) news sources. There's the "Darknet" set up by the deceased protagonist, and then there's the media - it's as if the entire internet that we know now doesn't exist. That's a pretty big hole to ignore, but the story is entertaining if you can get beyond that. I'd love to see the autheor asked about that in an interview though :)

Technorati Tags: freedom book

There's been a new post to the Google "Gears Blog", explaining why they haven't said much about Gears of late. The main reason? HTML5 seems to be on track to provide the same features natively:

If you've wondered why there haven't been many Gears releases or posts on the Gears blog lately, it's because we've shifted our effort towards bringing all of the Gears capabilities into web standards like HTML5. We're not there yet, but we are getting closer.

It would be pretty nice to get rid of the hacks that exist for video, if nothing else.

Technorati Tags: html5, standards

I've run into the iPhone download limit myself - Civ Revolution for the iPhone is just over 10 MB, for instance. So it's welcome news that they are upping the (3G based) cap to 20 MB - but that's not going to help much with full shows. An hour long TV show, at compression rates that give you a decent viewing experience, is still in the hundreds of megabyte range. And that's stadard def - HD is a whole other kettle of fish.

This whole capped bandwidth model is going to have to change if mobile devices are going to be used to consume streaming video, or even just "not on wifi" video...

Technorati Tags: iPhone, bandwidth

As listeners to the podcast know, there's been a project underway to create a new streams framework - Xtreams. It would be nice to see this catch on across Smalltalk using the same codebase - allowing modifications and improvements to come from anywhere. So:

So....

That's right - the project is under the MIT license. That means that you can take it to any Smalltalk (or even non-Smalltalk) implementation free from worry. If this code has value, let's see it spread. To get started, try the Google Code project page.

Technorati Tags: streams, xtreams, mit, license

I'm not sure whether I should laugh, or cry about this story - Kodak is trying to get touchscreen smartphones banned on patent infringement grounds:

Eastman Kodak claims that Apple Computers and Research in Motion are guilty of infringement of patents. Kodak has taken the step to request the U.S. International Trade Commission prevent both companies from importing their smart phones into the United States. Nokia filed a similar complaint in December 2009.

What patents, and why?

Kodak's complaint says the iPhone and BlackBerry infringe on the patent approved in 2001 regarding the ability to preview images. Kodak made more than $622 million on intellectual property last year and expects to receive more than $450 million in royalty this year from Samsung. It is seeking a similar agreement with Apple and Research in Motion.

How hard would it be to change the system by just this tiny amount: in order to bring a patent infringement suit, you would have to actually be providing a competing product in the space that you are complaining about - thus showing that there's actual harm? I know, it's just crazy talk. How would that keep legions of lawyers employed?

Update: I love this from Gordon Weakliem:

Ideas are worthless without execution, and as it is, the practice of patent trolling completely subverts the intended economic incentive behind patents. I’m amazed that corporate America hasn’t thrown their collective weight at Congress and forced reform. I suspect that the attitude is an intellectual property Cold War the large patent-holders are building a system of mutually assured destruction and regard the patent terrorists as a manageable cost of doing business.

Read the rest of his post - he makes some great points.

Technorati Tags: patents, patent trolling

Now I'm going to have to really ponder every TV and Movie scene I see - wondering just how much is real.

We'll be live in 45 minutes with Tudor Girba, talking about Glamour. You can wait for the podcast to appear in our stream, or listen live at justin.tv

Technorati Tags: podcast, glamour

Today's screencast looks at the Grid widget - a component in preview for VisualWorks.

You can download the video directly here. If you like this kind of video, why not subscribe to "Smalltalk Daily"?

Technorati Tags: screencast, grid widget, visualworks, ui

Live by the meme, die by the meme: As a commenter points out, this is a two year old story that I posted on without noticing that rather salient fact. Well, that's what corrections are for - nothing to see here, move along :)

If this TechCrunch story pans out, you can stick a fork in Twitter - they'll be dead soon enough:

We're hearing this from multiple sources: After nearly two years of high profile scaling problems, Twitter is planning to abandon Ruby on Rails as their web framework and start from scratch with PHP or Java (another solution is to stick with the Ruby language and move away from the Rails framework).

The problem is this: swicthing languages/frameworks is a very "enterprisey manager" type decision. Down in the development trenches, it means multiple man years of the following:

• Standing still while the new system is built from the ground up.
• Faults in the existing codebase will go largely unaddressed, as all the effort will be focused elsewhere
• Competitors will have a lot more room to steal users, as it'll be obvious that Twitter is standing still

This isn't a solution; it's a way to circle the drain while others feed off their carcass The worst part is, the management team that made this call (if it has been made - it's rumor now) will walk away clean, blaming "developers" for the failure...

Technorati Tags: RoR, twitter, social media

The Swiss are known for tolerance, but apparently, that tolerance ends with "mature" games:

It illegalises the purchase of any game not carrying a PEGI age rating and requires stricter rules on the requirements of ID, although both of these measures had previously been voluntarily introduced by retailers late last year. However, more worrying is a second resolution that was passed — albeit with a split vote of nine-to-three — that could lead to an outright ban of violent and adult titles in the country.

No more "Modern Warfare" or "Dragon Age" for you, I guess. While they're at it, will they also ban mature books and movies?

Technorati Tags: stupidity, censorship

The war against common sense ownership rights continues:

Echoing the controversial measures announced by Ubisoft last month, Sony has revealed that users of SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3 will need to register their game online before they are able to access the multiplayer component of the title.

It gets worse:

Furthermore, in a nod to recent plans implemented by EA, anyone buying a pre-owned copy of the game will be forced to cough up $20 to obtain a code to play online.

I brought up books in the title because e-books could run into the same kind of "no sharing" buzzsaw - which would be very different from the centuries long practice of passing books around we have now (Jasper Fforde touched on this in "The Well of Lost Plots", actually - you have to read it to see how, because explaining it would give away too much of the story).

Anyway, on games - we trade games back and forth with friends (once a game is done, it's usually done). The industry apparently wants that practice to stop. Like book sharing, I don't think it's costing anyone real money, but, like DRM for music, it's a bad idea that lots of industry types have gone "all in" on. Great.

Technorati Tags: games, stupidity

Julian Fitzell has joined the Cincom team:

I'm happy to announce that I have accepted a full-time position with Cincom in the UK. As a result, I will be laying down my consulting hat for a while, and heading to London at the end of the month. I'll be doing Pre-Sales Consulting (or Sales Engineering, as some call it) for their Smalltalk products in Europe

I look forward to working with Julian - he's seemed like a great guy every time I've met hm!

Spotted in Slashdot:

2K Games announced today that they will be releasing Civilization V in the fall. For the first time in the series, the square tiles will be changed to hexes, which 2K Games says provides 'deeper strategy' and 'more realistic gameplay.' Civilization V will also include a new graphics engine, new combat system including ranged bombardment, multiplayer and good support for the modding community. 'Each new version of Civilization presents exciting challenges for our team. Thankfully, ideas on how to bring new and fun experiences to Civ players never seem to stop flowing. From fully animated leaders and realistic landscapes, new combat tactics, expanded diplomacy and shared mods, we're excited for players to see the new vision our team at Firaxis has brought to the series,' Sid Meier said. In addition to Civilization V, the Facebook-based Civilization Network will also be released during 2010.

Well, I never really mastered Civ IV, so what the heck - I can get another game to act as a countervailing time sink to "Dragon Age Origins" (and the expansion they are putting out soon). I wonder when I'll find time to come up for air :)

Technorati Tags: civilization V

I'll be speaking to the NYC Smalltalkers tonight, about the interfaces I've built to various social media systems (and a few related topics, like building to a network API). Should be fun - it all starts at 6:30 PM here.

I'll be doing demos and talking about the code - see you there!

Today's screencast walks through the overview material that comes with the VWNC 7.7 download. To watch, click on the viewer below:

You can download the video directly here. If you like this kind of video, why not subscribe to "Smalltalk Daily"?

Technorati Tags: screencast, vwnc, introduction

One way to read this ComputerWorld story is that Windows 7 is a resource hog:

Citing data from Devil Mountain Software's community-based Exo.performance.network (XPnet), Craig Barth, the company's chief technology officer, said that new metrics reveal an unsettling trend. On average, 86% of Windows 7 machines in the XPnet pool are regularly consuming 90%-95% of their available RAM, resulting in slow-downs as the systems were forced to increasingly turn to disk-based virtual memory to handle tasks.

A slightly different way to view it is this: Microsoft has seen the future, and it has 64 bits, not 32. Do we "need" 64 bits? Well heck, you could have asked "do we need 32 bits?" a decade or so ago, too. Microsoft would like to have Windows 7 push new hardware sales, and I think they'd be even happier if those sales were at least 64 bit ready, if not actively running 64 bit.

Technorati Tags: 64 bit, vista, win 7

The powers of social media can be used for evil as well as for good:

Unfortunately, as PleaseRobMe points out, updating Foursquare on where you are implicitly updates Foursquare on where you're not -- at home.

On the other hand, with so many people doing this kind of thing, you have what amounts to an information flood. If you're already at risk (being stalked, for instance), I can see the immediate danger. Otherwise? It's never been that hard to figure out that a house is empty.

We'll be live with Brian Rice, talking about Slate, in 20 minutes (10 PM EST).

Technorati Tags: slate, podcast

As is quite often the case, I'm reading two books right now:

The Well of Lost Plots is the third book in the Thursday Next series. While it's hardly heavy reading, it's an enjoyable set of books - the intertwining of the real world with the book world (characters can jump in and out of books; some fictional characters die and have to be replaced by generics who stand in for them) is quite interesting. The idea of "oral tradition" story characters (think nursery rhymes) going on strike for better working conditions was pretty amusing. I don't want to give awy too much - this is, after all, the third book in the series. However, I can say this: it's a fun set of books to read, and I recommend them

Daemon is a much more involved book, and harder to read in parts - there's at least one character involved in some pretty unsavory things, and it's not clear yet whether he ends up on the "good" team yet - because the sides are unclear to me halfway in. The protagonist is a rich game developer who set off a series of events after his death, via sophisticated, distributed software systems (and people he has the software recruit as real world actors). I'm still not sure what his goals are, or whether his goals serve a good or bad end yet - which is one of the things I like about the book - at the midway point, it's not clear. This is the first book in a series (and only the second is out) - so if you don't want to get sucked in, there's your warning. I like the book, even though parts of it were hard to get through (from the standpoint of the things going on, not from a writing standpoint).

Technorati Tags: daemon, well+of+lost+plots

Michael and I have two interesting podcasts coming up in the next couple of days (the recordings will be released, as per usual, on Sundays):

• Tonight at 10 PM EST: We'll be talking to Brian Rice about Slate, a Smalltalk derived language
• Friday at 11 AM EST: We'll be talking to Tudor Girba about Glamour.

You can listen live on justin.tv, at the times posted above.

Technorati Tags: smalltalk, industry misinterpretations

I got a chuckle out of this "scientific revelation" in scifi wire - apparently, FTL travel would have smoked Kirk (et. al.):

Well, the reality is that he would have fried instantly, and any other Starfleet travelers such as Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise would have perished had they really attempted to travel at faster-than-light speeds.

There are two issues with this:

• It's sciene fiction, not science
• Science fiction typically (and most certainly in this case) assumes some sort of scientific discovery that makes the seemingly impossible, possible.

Technorati Tags: science, fiction

It's been a week since the second storm, and 11 days since the first - but because the brilliant thinkers in Howard County traffic control think that the "random shapes in the road" approach to slowing traffic is a good idea, we have this to put up with:

Many of us in the neighborhood have been wondering how plows would deal with those areas after a major snow storm for years; this year, we discovered that the answer is mostly "they don't". That was pretty clear to everyone but the advanced thinkers in the local government. I rather suspect that none of the traffic design folks have atrocities like this near them...

Spotted in SCI FI Wire:

It's been a good news/bad news kind of Supernatural day. The Good: Supernatural got an early season-six pickup for next season. The Bad: Creator Eric Kripke is planning to step down as co-showrunner, along with his current co-showrunner, Robert Singer.

This is mostly bad news, IMHO. This year's villain for the Winchester boys is Lucifer himself; like Buffy after season 5, I'm not exactly sure what's left to fight that could be bigger. Sometimes, a story just needs to end; this is one of them.

Technorati Tags: supernatural

Today's screencast walks through the installation process for ObjectStudio 8.2 NC - from initial download to initial startup. All on Windows 7. To watch, click on the viewer below:

You can download the video directly here. If you like this kind of video, why not subscribe to "Smalltalk Daily"?

Technorati Tags: install, windows7, objectstudio, screencast

I've never been a fan of Outlook - this is mostly a matter of personal taste, not a commentary on quality, real or perceived. Having said that, I see that Microsoft wants to turn the software into a hub for everything you do online:

On Wednesday, Microsoft is releasing a "beta" test version of the Outlook Social Connector. The add-on software, which was first discussed last November, adds a new pane to the main e-mail reading screen on Outlook. When a user clicks to read an e-mail message, the new pane fills up with the sender's most recent social-networking activities. Those could include the addition of a professional contact on LinkedIn or a "what I'm doing now" status update from Facebook.

The interesting thing from further down in the article is that there's no "push" capability - i.e., no way to update those streams from Outlook. Heck, I can do that from BottomFeeder, so it's not that hard. I understand the idea, but I have no idea why they would leave it half done...

Technorati Tags: outlook, microsoft, windows

How the new phone OS from Microsoft got its name

Industry Misinterpretations will be live on February 17th (tomorrow) on justin.tv - we'll be talking with Brian Rice about Slate - a Smalltalk derived language.

The next version of WebVelocity is still in development, but the focus is on cloud development: both in terms of how it works (no GUI console), and what it'll hook to (interfaces to things like the Amazon cloud). There's a lot going on, and I'll be doing screencasts on it soon. Here's a screenshot of the in development admin screen:

Technorati Tags: smalltalk, web development, cloud

David Meerman Scott makes a great point about content:

Just say NO to squeezing your buyers, I say. When you give away valuable content with no registration, you are adding to your brand bank account, making your brand more valuable.

There are a virtually infinite number of messages coming at all of us, all the time. If someone comes to your site, interested in your product, why do you want to make it harder? Getting people's attention is hard; forcing someone who's been attracted to you to jump through hoops is just a bad idea. Registration forms for things like video, white papers (etc) - those are hoops. Putting them up just means less attention. Is that what you really want?

Technorati Tags: pr, attention

So it wasn't enough that I laundered my passport - my daughter is taking a trip later this year, and her passport is set to expire right in the middle of it. We had all the docs ready, but then the big snows hit - we're finally set to hit the post office today. Fortunately, there are months between now and her trip, so things should be ok.

Today's screencast answers a simple question: once you've downloaded and installed VisualWorks non-commercial, what do you do next? Turns out there are some pointers for that right in the NC product.

You can download the video directly here. If you like this kind of video, why not subscribe to "Smalltalk Daily"?

Technorati Tags: vwnc, screencast

Here's another video from ESUG 2009 - Gabriel Honore talking about his Innovation Award winning app, RetrObjects. To watch, click on the viewer below. You can also listen to a podcast we did with Gabriel last year.

You can download the video directly here. If you like this kind of video, why not subscribe to "Smalltalk Videos"?

Technorati Tags: video, esug09, brest, france, c64, nes, emulator

I think the Yankees look like the team to beat. 4 solid starters, good bullpen, and this lineup:

1. SS Derek Jeter: 107 runs, AL-best 289 times on base.
2. DH Nick Johnson: Career-best .426 OBP for Nats, Marlins.
3. 1B Mark Teixeira: Led club with 39 HRs, 122 RBIs, .948 OPS.
4. 3B Alex Rodriguez: 12th straight 30-HR, 100-RBI season (despite missing 38 games).
5. C Jorge Posada: .891 OPS was second-best among catchers.
6. CF Curtis Granderson: Newcomer hit 30 HRs for first time.
7. 2B Robinson Cano: Led second basemen with .320 AVG, .520 SLG.
8. RF Nick Swisher: Would clean up for some teams (29 HRs, .371 OBP).
9. LF Brett Gardner: Must beat out Randy Winn, Marcus Thames.

Spring can't come soon enough!

Technorati Tags: baseball, sports

So what does this mean - an alliance of phone companies putting together a new app directory?

Twelve of the world's biggest phone networks — including AT&T, Orange and Telefonica — will announce their rival technology tomorrow to Apple's App Store. The combined audience for the app platform will be 2 billion customers. Phone manufacturers Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson are also part of the alliance.

If it's going to be "cross phone", does that mean that these are going to be browser based apps? Because I can't see what else would cross the multiple physical architectures involved. I'm also not sure how you would install these apps, at least on the iPhone. For an android device, an alternative store is simple, but for the iPhone? This bears watching.

Technorati Tags: mobile, phone apps

Cool - Doug Putnam is adding Seaside to the repetoire for his students doing an Ajax project:

And about that Seaside course— there isn't one yet. But it is on my TODO list for future courses at CCSF. For the time being, as part of my own Smalltalk education, I'll take this opportunity to complete the class project using Seaside. Since Smalltalk and Seaside are new to me, I'll be starting on the same page as my PHP and Ruby students. This will be fun. I'll be doing this project with Cincom Visualworks Non-Commercial which is free for non-commercial use on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

Sounds like a fun project, with some useful comparisons (read the whole thing - he and his students are going to compare how much code was needed for each of the projects - PHP, Ruby, and Smalltalk).

Technorati Tags: seaside, academic

I just saw this from our local PTA - it's on Facebook, so I've reproduced part of it here:

As many of you may have already heard, schools have now closed for Tuesday. I recently spoke with Dr. Sydney Cousin, the Superintendent of Education, offering the PTA's help in reopening schools. He graciously accepted our offer, and explained that schools have been closed on Tuesday to allow adequate time for clearing of bus loops, walkways at the school, and parking lots. Providing a storm projected to move through the area tomorrow and Tuesday doesn't bring much new snow, it's Dr. Cousin's intent to open schools on Wednesday.

As I said earlier, it's more than walkways. There are still huge problems due to the utterly incompetent plow job that Howard County did.

Technorati Tags: schools, snow

It's been over a week since the first big storm now, and nearly a week since the second. And schools are closed tomorrow anyway (today is a holiday). Why? Well, driving through the neighborhoods, the roads are really narrow - there are turns I don't know that a bus can make - like this older shot of some traffic calming (and there's still snow/ice in the middle of it now):

The sides of that segment are clear now, but there's still a thick line of snow and ice in the center - and it's just too narrow for a bus anyway; in good weather, they need to drive over the center median (which currently has over a foot of snow on it). Here's what it looks like in good weather, from the other end:

At the far end, the strip is like the foreground one, but without the stakes. Buses usually drive over the edge, given the room they have - but with the snow on the sides and median, that's not really possible. I have real doubts about school opening on Wednesday - because scenes like this are duplicated across the county...

Technorati Tags: schools, snow

We got a demo of CORMAS at ESUG last summer; now there's a training course being offered at the Cincom offices in Germany:

Introductory training to CORMAS "How to model and simulate ecological and sociological questions?"

• From Monday, March 1st (12:00) to Friday, March 5th (12:00)
• Location: Cincom offices close to Frankfurt/Main, Germany
• Trainer: Christophe Le Page, CIRAD
• Language of instruction: English
• Knowledge in Smalltalk would be helpful but isn't required.
• Requirements: Laptop to run CORMAS (details on request)
• Participation fee: 1.500,00 Euros, plus VAT per person (when number of total attendees is three or larger)

For registration or further questions, please contact: Helge Nowak

Today's screencast examines how self and super differ for message lookup.

You can download the video directly here. If you like this kind of video, why not subscribe to "Smalltalk Daily"?

Technorati Tags: self, super, method lookup