Smalltalk with James Robertson

This looks like fun:

At least it warmed up while I was back at home, and all of last week's ice went away....

Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we take a look at creating your own Javascript objects. 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:

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:

Technorati Tags: javascript, object creation

Arden Thomas will be talking about Polycephaly at the next NY STUG meeting:

This presentation discusses some basic strategies for how Smalltalk can leverage multi-core computers, and the results of using a new simple framework that is now included with Cincom’s VisualWorks and ObjectStudio.

February 24th at 6:30 pm

Technorati Tags: multi core

We'll be posting a new edition of "That Podcast" this week - Michael Fincher and I will be doing another round on "Dead Money" now that I've successfully gotten through it. 

Today's Smalltalk 4 You takes a look at the file list tool (editor) in Squeak. 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:

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:

Technorati Tags: squeak, file list, smalltalk

I have friends who have done some very cool things in Minecraft, but I was pretty pleased with how this room came out. I mostly dug stuff up while my daughter made the interior look nice:

Technorati Tags: minecraft

Welcome to episode 16 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck. This week Dave Buck and I talk about an upcoming refactoring course he's giving over the web, and we touch on a number of topics related to refactoring. You can get registration information for Dave's course at simberon.com

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!

Technorati Tags: smalltalk, refactoring

Welcome to episode 16 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck. This week Dave Buck and I talk about an upcoming refactoring course he's giving over the web, and we touch on a number of topics related to refactoring. You can get registration information for Dave's course at simberon.com

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!

Technorati Tags: refactoring, smalltalk

Glaciers covered the entire state of Maryland and no one told me:

These graphics glitches are getting pretty amusing :)

Technorati Tags: humor

JNIPort is now working in Squeak, Pharo, and VW:

JNIPort is a Smalltalk library which allows Java code to be invoked from Smalltalk. It acts as a bridge between the world of Smalltalk objects and a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) where Java code is executing.

Technorati Tags: pharo, squeak, visualworks, java

I haven't tried "The Daily" yet, but John Gruber's review isn't making me more interested:

Why wait for The Daily when you can open Mobile Safari and see the home page for any of your favorite news sites in 10 seconds? The point of native apps is to provide a better experience than websites can offer. Watching a splash screen rotate a “Loading…” spinner for 80 seconds isn’t it.

I'm frequently on very slow wifi at hotels now, so that 80 seconds might turn into gosh knows how long for me. He makes a great point bout how Flipboard gets something in front of you fast, and then continues loading in the background. That's what this sort of news app needs to do.

Technorati Tags: media, iPad

A software developer shares his thoughts on Smalltalk - it's a good read, focusing on Pharo.

Technorati Tags: pharo

This is very unusual for Dallas - an ice storm is one thing, but having three days of sub-freezing weather (keeping the ice on the roads) followed by a couple of inches of snow? That's weird. Here was what I faced leaving the hotel to get to DFW this morning - bear in mind that there's pretty solid ice under that mess:

I-635 was better near the airport, but here's what it looked like near the hotel:

The airport was no joy, either:

It's not all bad though - I'm catching an earlier flight only because of a delay, so I do manage to get home a bit early :)

Where did some of the Smalltalk Collection protocol come from? Well, according to this relayed recollection from Dan Ingalls, it came from Alice's Restaurant:

But I recognized it right away, here’s how “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” transitions from the littering trial to the draft:

"Came to talk about the draft. They got a building down New York City, it’s called Whitehall Street, where you walk in, you get injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected and selected."

If that's true, it's hilarious :)

Technorati Tags: humor

Keeping in mind that there's still ice on the roads (4 days after the ice storm, mind you), this is what I woke up to today:

Looks like another day of working from the hotel - driving in to the office yesterday had some white knuckle moments, and getting to the airport later today will be enough excitement for me...

Today's Smalltalk 4 You takes a look at recovering lost code in Squeak using the change list 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:

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:

Technorati Tags: smalltalk, lost code, squeak, change list

This is just really, really cool.

Technorati Tags: skin, burns

Who knew? The media's theory about making content available during brief "windows" drives up piracy rates outside of those windows. TechDirt explains:

One of the main reasons why people access unauthorized copies is because they can't get legitimate copies. The movie industry is so infatuated with "windows" that it doesn't seem to realize that restricting how people can access their movies only drives more and more people to unauthorized means.

That, and the fact that the media outfits are consumed with the idea of selling you N copies of the same content, where N equals the number of devices you own. Here's a hot tip: if I have the DVD, I shouldn't need to buy a digital copy to put on my iPad. So long as I bought the DVD, I should be able to make use of that content on a personal basis any way I want. Sure, if I start selling copies, or even giving them away, that's a problem. If I want to watch on another device? Not so much.

Technorati Tags: movies, video, audio

Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we take a look at dropping and reading cookies 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:

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:

Technorati Tags: js4u, javascript, tutorial, cookies

If they add this to the iPhone, I'll be tempted to give up my grandfathered unlimited plan:

When bundled with AT&T's 2GB Data Pro Plan ($25/month), the mobile hotspot app costs $20 per month and adds 2GB of extra data service. However, the 4GB allotment applies to all devices connected through the hotspot, and an overage charge of $10 per gigabyte applies if the user goes over 4GB.

Technorati Tags: att, mobile, hotspots

Jeff Jarvis would like to see math that adds up for News Corp. on "The Daily" - reading his post makes it look iffy to me, in the same way that the production of "Spiderman" on Broadway is iffy. Add in Apple's in app subscription rules, and things really get interesting.

Technorati Tags: iPad, newspaper

The weather right now back home:

Meanwhile, here in Dallas:

The tv news tells me that many of the highways are parking lots filled with ice patches, and that rolling blackouts are hitting various areas. Joy :)

Today's Smalltalk 4 You takes a look at swapping the mouse buttons in Squeak, so that the right mouse button brings up the context menu. 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:

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:

Technorati Tags: st4u, smalltalk, squeak, mouse buttons, halos

Dmitri Zagidulin explains why he picked Smalltalk and Seaside:

Why? Good god, why? Why should a choice of language, or especially a choice of which web app framework to use, matter? Because, I believe that: Your choice of app framework deeply affects your development speed, and your overall level of courage.

Follow the link to see what he meant by that :)

Technorati Tags: seaside

This is what I woke up to this morning here in Dallas:

Meanwhile back home, I have a phone message telling me that my wife's grocery delivery order will be delayed... due to winter weather. It's everywhere I want to be :)

Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we take a look at the built in Navigator object 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:

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:

Technorati Tags: js4u, javascript, browser, navigator