. .

games

Civ V?

June 13, 2011 19:21:16.360

I've been hearing nothing but negativity about Civilization V since it came out - so last night, when my daughter sounded interested in it, I couldn't muster any enthusiasm. On the other hand, I haven't seen it myself so - she created a Steam account and downloaded the Mac version. So far, she likes it a lot. Maybe I'll give it a try, so we could play multi-player....

Technorati Tags:

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

st4u

ST 4U 94: VAST Goodies

June 13, 2011 9:42:22.086

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at the VAST Goodies site - a VA Smalltalk seaside powered side used to share community provided VA code. 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:

VA Goodies.

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 VAST Goodies site - it's both an example of a VA Smalltalk application (using Seaside), and a useful site for getting (and contributing) community provided Smalltalk code. In order to make use of it, you first need to download the tools - which will also serve as an example of how to download and load code from the goodies repository into VA Smalltalk. First, visit vastgoodies.com:

VAST Goodies

Scroll down, and select the Tools link. That will select the configuration map to download in the view. Scroll back up, and select the Download link:

Download

Download

Next, open up a Configuration Map Browser, and under Names, select Import, all versions.

Import

This will pop up a dialog that you can easily misinterpret. To select an import file, just don't enter anything and hit ok:

Import

Now select the file and hit ok in the standard dialog:

Select the File

That added the file to your ENVY library - but an attempt to load from the Configuration Map Browser you have open fails - due to a pre-req that wasn't specified:

Load Failed

Go back to the feature import tool, select SST HTTP, and move it to the right. Then load that:

Pre-Reqs

Now return to the Configuration Map Browser and load the Goodies tools - they'll come in just fine now:

Load Goodies Tools

That gets the tools in - we'll look at how to make use of them in another tutorial.

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.

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Enclosures:
[st4u94-iPhone.m4v ( Size: 8660083 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

podcastAAC

IM 33: The Scratch Story (AAC)

June 12, 2011 11:53:14.762

Welcome to episode 33 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck.

This week I have another session from Smalltalk Solutions 2011 - John McIntosh's keynote address, about the attempts to get Scratch approved for the app store.

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: , , ,

Enclosures:
[im33.m4a ( Size: 31321418 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

podcast

IM 33: The Scratch Story

June 12, 2011 11:52:56.152

Welcome to episode 33 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck.

This week I have another session from Smalltalk Solutions 2011 - John McIntosh's keynote address, about the attempts to get Scratch approved for the app store.

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: , , , ,

Enclosures:
[im33.mp3 ( Size: 22722313 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

news

What's the Roaming Charge For That?

June 11, 2011 10:59:05.804

The iPhone goes to space:

Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to complete its final voyage with a pair of space-ready iPhone 4's aboard. After docking with the International Space Station, astronauts use the phones, not to become Foursquare's Mayor of Space, it seems, but to run an app called SpaceLab for iOS.

Maybe AT&T needs to launch a satellite specifically to provide ISS based roaming :)

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

music

Pandora to Get Competition

June 10, 2011 17:33:06.331

Looks like Pandora is getting some competition in the streaming music space - and for people who travel, Spotify will have the added benefit of giving you trans-atlantic access (assuming that stupid record label deals don't get in the way of that, a real possibility):

Spotify has signed an American distribution deal with Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music label. The pact means that the streaming music company now has U.S. deals in place with three of the four largest labels, making it likely that the European company will finally be able to move across the Atlantic this summer.

I'm not sure what this offers me over what Pandora does, but the reviews for Spotify have been good. The more the merrier!

Technorati Tags:

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

st4u

ST 4U 93: RESTful Services Using KomHttpServer

June 10, 2011 11:31:26.863

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at how easy it is to set up a RESTful HTTP service using the KOM Http server for Pharo (or Squeak). The example I'm using comes from Guillermo Polito. 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:

REST in Pharo

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: , , ,

Enclosures:
[st4u93-iPhone.m4v ( Size: 5339228 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

smalltalk

Smalltalk and WebDAV

June 9, 2011 16:38:45.000

Craig Latta is using WebDAV with Spoon, in order to enable Smalltalk code accessibility as if it were all in files. I like the idea a lot, and it would be interesting to see that sort of thing done for one of the large Smalltalk implementations.

Technorati Tags: ,

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

smalltalk

Google Analytics From Your Seaside App

June 9, 2011 13:35:50.000

Looks like you can get access to your analytics directly from Seaside now:

I want to announce the release of Google Analytics Tracker, a small tool we make for getitmade.com (Nick Ager's project), to allow us to get analytics data. Right now is very simple, it just give us page visits data, but can be used as a foundation to get a lot more info.

To give it a spin, load up ConfigurationOfGoogleAnalyticsTracker in Pharo.

Technorati Tags: ,

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

js4u

JS 4U 63: Dynamically Add a CSS Attribute

June 9, 2011 7:42:21.062

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we look at using the JQuery to add a CSS attribute to a page element. 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:

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Enclosures:
[js4u63-iPhone.m4v ( Size: 2858986 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

general

Too Much Government

June 8, 2011 15:00:00.000

Reasonable people can have completely honest debates about the appropriate size of government, and about the proper roles and responsibilities of that government. However - when you have an education department breaking down doors, can't we all agree that there's something very wrong here?

Update: Looks like the link above is broken (did someone lean on the news outlet?).  You can get the "defense" from the Education department here, but my question remains - why on earth is the education department sending para-military units out to execute warrants? 

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

smalltalk

Smalltalk in Dallas?

June 8, 2011 9:55:21.000

We have a pretty decent sized group of Smalltalkers where I'm working now, in the Grand Prairie area (Texas). I know there are other Smalltalk shops in the Metroplex, so it occurs to me that a local user group is something that could work. I'm trying to get meeting space set up where I work - anyone else in the area interested in helping organize such a thing? If so, contact me and let's see what we can do.

Technorati Tags:

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

st4u

ST 4U 92: Creating a Configuration Map in VA

June 8, 2011 8:36:00.825

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at creating a configuration map. In ENVY, configuration maps are how you create reproducible, loadable configurations of software in the version control system. 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:

Config Maps.

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 take the CounterApp and CounterTestsApp applications, and package them up into a single loadable Configuration. In VA Smalltalk, that's accomplished with an ENVY construct called a ConfigurationMpa. Using the Tools menu, select Browse ConfigurationMaps:

Applications

Config Maps

To create a new Config Map, select the Names menu, and then click on Create...:

Create a Config Map

Give the new Config Map a Name:

Create a Config Map

Now, in the rightmost pane at the top, right click, and select Add.... That will bring up a window, allowing you to add applications to the Configuration map:

Add Applications

We'll move CounterApp and CounterTestsApp over to the right, and click the Ok button:

Add Applications

Finally, using the menu in the second pane, give your Config map a version number - and that's it - you've got a loadable configuration. We'll be going into more depth on Applications and Config Maps in future tutorials, we've barely scratched the surface so far!

Version it

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.

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Enclosures:
[st4u92-iPhone.m4v ( Size: 6112872 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

smalltalk

Quantities in VisualWorks

June 7, 2011 19:00:00.000

Michael Lucas-Smith has a detailed write up on a new Quantities library he's created in VisualWorks. It's taken inspiration from part of the Boost library - you can get details at the link. What's the motivation?

So with these two great examples of units and quantities to go off of, I set about trying different variations for describing quantities in VisualWorks generically. I wanted to allow it to blend with the existing (and future) implementation of Duration. I *really* wanted to know if there is any design impact on Duration that I need to know about now before I go and change its implementation in VisualWorks 7.9.

After going through many iterations, I ended up with a design using the same trick as Measurements, but with more capabilities, such as instantiating Duration when dealing with the Time dimension. Or instantiating an Angle when you’re dealing with radians, degrees and gradians. There is of course the Temperature class too - but I won’t bore you with the details of that one

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

smalltalk

Glorp for Pharo

June 7, 2011 14:14:03.000

A new port of Glorp for Pharo, built on top of DBXTalk (formerly SqueakDBX) is out:

I'm glad to announce a first stable version of the new Glorp Port, from VW 7.7.1.

The port has been integrated with the DBXTalk Driver (before known as SqueakDBX), and tested on the following platforms:

  • MySql: 872 tests run, 18 errors, 6 failures
  • PostgreSQL: 872 tests, 18 errors, 6 failures
  • Oracle: 872 tests, 21 errors, 5 failures.

Technorati Tags: , ,

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

js4u

JS 4U 62: Conditional JQuery Selecting

June 7, 2011 9:03:58.858

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we look at using JQuery selectors to conditionally grab page elements. 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:

Conditional Selection

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: , ,

Enclosures:
[js4u62-iPhone.m4v ( Size: 2746474 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

advertising

Tablets, the Cloud, and Smalltalk

June 6, 2011 9:50:15.000

Runar Jordahl links to a post about Tablets and the Cloud, and passes on his own thoughts:

Skrishnamachari says that better interfacing with Java is vital to grow Smalltalk’s use in cloud computing. That might be true, but interfacing to NoSQL databases (Cassandra, Riak, Hbase) and services (like AWS) running in the cloud, is just as important. Cloudfork is one such interface, the Riak interface another. I think we should be able to write great cloud applications from scratch using Smalltalk, and increasingly these tools are becoming more important.

One thing that you'll notice right off is the complete dearth of commercial Smalltalk support for tablet devices. All of the action is in Pharo and Squeak, where there's been a fair bit of work done to support IOS, and a start at Android support. Cloud/web interfacing looks more possible for the commercial systems, but again - most of the action is coming from community people (Cloudfork, anyone?).

I understand the need to support the existing customer base, and the whole "where's the revenue?" problem - but at the same time, these are areas that really can't be ignored.

Technorati Tags: , ,

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

st4u

ST 4U 91: Focusing SUnit on Specific Tests

June 6, 2011 8:18:28.277

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at loading and using SUnit in VA Smalltalk. Last time we looked at the SUnit browser in VA Smalltalk, but it showed every test loaded in the image. Today, we look at how simple it is to get a more focused view. 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:

SUnit.

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 go back to SUnit in VA Smalltalk, and see how easy it is to concentrate on just the tests that are of interest to you, instead of all tests across the system. We'll start in the Application Browser, looking at the TestCase subclass we created last time:

TestCase

Right click on the class, and in the context menu, select Test:

Open the SUnit Browser

You have the same tool you saw last time, but instead of all tests that are loaded (and that could be quite a few, if you've loaded something like Seaside) - you'll see just the tests in this selection:

Focused SUnit

Now we can run just the tests we care about (one in the image below), and not be distracted by whatever else happens to be loaded in our image. On a large project, with multiple developers creating features and tests, that could be a big distraction:

Focused SUnit

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.

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Enclosures:
[st4u91-iPhone.m4v ( Size: 2586924 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This