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smalltalk

StOMP Ported to VA

July 13, 2011 15:00:23.000

StOMP - an object serializer for network communications - has been ported to VA Smalltalk. Get all the details here.

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posted by James Robertson

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ST 4U 106: Getting Started With WindowBuilder Pro

July 13, 2011 7:56:16.859

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at WindowBuilder Pro - one of the two main ways to build a user interface in VA Smalltalk. Today we'll paint a simple user interface for the Counter application we built previously; next time, we'll hook it up to that domain object. 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:

WB Pro.

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 looking at WindowBuilder pro in VA Smalltalk. It's one of two ways to build a UI in VA, the other being the PARTS tool. If you're an experienced Smalltalketr, WB Pro will probably be the best choice for you - it produces Smalltalk code that is easily worked with in the browsers, while PARTS is mostly an environment unto itself. Today we'll take an overview of the tool, building a UI that we'll use with the CounterApp demo - we'll hook the UI and domain model up in the next tutorial.

First, import WB Pro into ENVY - you can see a screencast that goes over how to import a library here - WB pro comes as a separate, loadable component from Instantiations. Once you have that in ENVY, just go to the Load Features tool and bring it in:

Load Features

You should notice a new WindowBuilder menu on the launcher. Select New from that to start a new UI project:

New UI

What you are looking at now is the blank canvas (which will hold your UI. On top are a selection of options for editing and controlling the layout of the widgets you place; on the left is a palette of widgets. It looks smaller than it is, because the left-most list is a category listing of widget types, while the right-most list holds the widgets for the type selected:

Edit the UI

Now you can place widgets. Select a category - We've selected Text Widgets - and then a specific widget type. Then place the widget somewhere on the canvas. In this tutorial, we aren't going to worry about the layout, but you do have full control over that. Double click on the widget you placed to bring up the settable properties:

Set Widget Properties

From the same category of widgets, select the Enhanced Text input field, place it, then double click to get its properties. Note that we can give it an initial value, and an editing type:

Edit Input Field

Do the same for the button, setting just the label - we'll cover callbacks in another tutorial, when we hook this UI up to a domain object. Finally, note that by double clicking on the window you are editing, you can set its properties:

Edit Window Properties

Now you need to save your work. You'll need to specify a class name and an application; pull down Save from the file menu in WB:

Save Your Work

Now set the class and application name:

Class and Application

Now open up a browser, and select your new application. Select All in the protocol pane to see the generated methods. addWidgets is where all of your widgets get defined. You might think its odd that none of these are cached in instance variables, but it turns out (as we'll see in the next tutorial) that grabbing one of these widgets by name is easy - note the name in the second image below:

Browse the New Class

Widget Name

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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The No Learning Ever Media Industry

July 12, 2011 16:00:00.000

It looks like the copyright holders in the movie industry are preparing to keep diving down the same rathole that the RIAA went down last decade - the "pound the end users of the product and see if that works" theory. Here's a good summary (read the whole piece though) from Slate:

If the studios were smart they'd go to the mat and create a massive one-stop shop for TV and movies, find a price point they can live with and then set programmers loose to make the thing as easy to use and ubiquitous as possible. Instead they've been wasting their time strong-arming the cable companies to help them on a new crusade against illegal downloaders—an unwieldy process that doesn't address the root problem and won't work.

Where have we heard that before?

I'm not saying that using illegal media is right. And of course it's free—the studios can't do anything about that. But does it have to be easier?

This problem isn't limited to the video industry, of course - back when I was at Cincom, I don't know how many conversations I had that went something like this:

Them: We can get $$$$ from these guys

Me:No, we can get $$ or $0, not $$$$

Them: Trust me, I know what I'm doing

.... and the inevitable result was... $0. That's the path the RIAA took, and it's the one that the MPAA seems bound and determined to follow. Apparently,they think this time is different

posted by James Robertson

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Polycephaly Take 2

July 12, 2011 9:44:57.000

Michael has put up a pretty detailed post on the lessons learned from the initial cut at Polycephaly - and what he and a few other engineers at Cincom have done for take 2:

So, the technical debt on Polycephaly finally reached a turning point when a review was written on the VWNC mailing list and I was resolved to fix the problems. And what luck, I had an engineering trip planned to travel to Ottawa where two of my colleagues live, and then to Victoria (Vancouver Isle.) where another one of my colleagues live. It just so happens that these colleagues could help me and face to face time is invaluable. I present to you Xtreams-Grid, a VisualWorks and ObjectStudio solution for working with multiple images on your local machine and across a network.

Follow the link for lots more details, including the features list.

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posted by James Robertson

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JS 4U 72: An Image Gallery Example

July 12, 2011 8:01:13.712

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we look at how to use JQuery plugins - something that knowing a little bit about Javascript makes pretty easy. 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:

Image Gallery

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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Old World Blues Trailer

July 11, 2011 21:07:27.352

Bethesda has given us a teaser to tide us over until the release date of Old World Blues for Fallout: New Vegas :

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posted by James Robertson

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Early Bird Rates for ESUG 2011

July 11, 2011 19:33:34.081

I won't be able to make it to ESUG this year - I haveto drive my daughter to college that week. For those of you with fewer timing issues, it's getting close to the end of the early bird rates:

You must register by July 18th to get the early-bird price for ESUG 2011 in Edinburgh: £315 for all 5 days, the social event, and the Camp Smalltalk weekend before if you can make that as well (and the Seaside sprint the weekend after if you are on that too).

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posted by James Robertson

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privacy

Your Old Phone Leaks

July 11, 2011 8:22:52.000

Data, that is. PC World investigated some used phones at a flea market:

When I got home and charged the phones, I found so much information on both that I could have constructed an intricate portrait of each former owner’s life in the month before the phone left their hands. I had access to bank email, photos of family and friends, the nicknames the owners used for their parents--all for $60 and an afternoon at the flea market.

They also bought phones from various used phone sellers, and the results were interesting. Looks like you need to be very, very careful before you sell your old phone on e-bay...

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posted by James Robertson

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ST 4U 105: Using the Refactoring Browser in VA Smalltalk

July 11, 2011 3:29:59.697

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at the refactoring browser - a tool you may know from other Smalltalk dialects, and which is also available for 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:

Refactoring Browser.

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 using another browsing choice for VA Smalltalk - the Refactoring Browser. If you are coming to VA Smalltalk from another dialect, this may be your most comfortable initial choice, as the RB in VA is very similar to the RB in VisualWorks, or the browsers in Squeak and Pharo. To get started, open up the Load Features UI:

Load Features

Scroll down to the Refactoring Browser in the list on the left, move it to the right, and hit Ok:

Load the RB

Now, to compare and contrast, we'll take a look at our CounterApp example in the standard (not Trailblazer) browser, and then flip over to the RB:

Standard Browser

Go back to the Tools menu in the launcher, and select the Refactoring Browser:

Start the RB

Now scroll through the list of applications in the left most pane, and select one - we've selected outr CounterApp example here:

RB

What you are looking at is the more traditional four pane Smalltalk browser, but with all of the functionality that the RB brings with it. We'll explore some of that functionality in a future 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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IM 37: The JWars Story (AAC)

July 10, 2011 11:05:12.697

Welcome to episode 37 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck.

This week Michael and I spoke to Don MacQueen, who has spoken about the JWars project (a large VA Smalltalk application) at many events. We asked him about the project's trajectory, and about his current work at Instantiations.

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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IM 37: The JWars Story

July 10, 2011 11:04:30.057

Welcome to episode 37 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck.

This week Michael and I spoke to Don MacQueen, who has spoken about the JWars project (a large VA Smalltalk application) at many events. We asked him about the project's trajectory, and about his current work at Instantiations.

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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Hawke Gets to Leave Kirkwall

July 9, 2011 19:04:39.308

The first DLC for DA2 is coming out, and it looks like you'll get to leave Kirkwall. With luck, you'll get new maps, too:

The announcement tells you to "Leave Kirkwall", and explore a prison constructed by the Grey Wardens. You will have to foil a criminal cartel that's taken a violent interest in the Hawke family lineage. The expansion promises several new locations, Darkspawn enemies, a new class specific weapon and more achievements.

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posted by James Robertson

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Alan Kay on Software at HPI

July 8, 2011 10:49:21.000

Alan Kay will be speaking at HPI on July 21st - Robert Hirschfeld posted the following to the ESUG mailing list:

It is my great pleasure to announce Alan Kay's talk here at HPI.

Title: "Next steps for qualitatively improving programming"

Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Hasso-Plattner-Institut Potsdam, Germany

Date and time: July 21 (Thu) 2011, 16:00-17:00

Additional information:
http://www.vpri.org/html/people/founders.htm
http://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/hpi/anfahrt?L=1
http://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/news/beitrag/computerpionier-alan-kay-wird-hpi-fellow.html

The talk will also be posted online afterwards, so we all have that to look forward to

posted by James Robertson

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Your FitBit Knows Where You've Been

July 8, 2011 10:30:15.142

You know that a divorce settlement is going to hinge on FitBit data at some point :)

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posted by James Robertson

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ST 4U 104: Fuel for Pharo

July 8, 2011 8:49:50.953

Today's Smalltalk 4 You takes a look at Fuel - a new object serializer for Pharo. It's part of the Summertalk program that's sponsored each year by ESUG, and it looks cool. To watch now, click on the image below, or go to the YouTube page

Fuel

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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Authentication in Seaside 3.0

July 8, 2011 7:40:01.000

James Foster explains how to do user specific rendering in Seaside:

Seaside has the built-in ability to use HTTP Authentication to restrict an application to a specific user/password. The method WAAdmin class>>#’register:asApplicationAt:user:password:’ registers the application with WAAuthenticationFilter as a filter and provides a single user and password that must be provided in order to view the initial page. This provides some password security, but does not differentiate among allowed users (e.g., everyone will use the same ‘admin’ user name).

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posted by James Robertson

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copyright

When All Else Fails....

July 7, 2011 20:45:59.000

It looks like the major (US) ISP's are going to try something that might actually work, after years of the content owners pushing for really stupid stuff that didn't help:

The agreement puts heavy emphasis on "education," going so far as to recast this behavior as some "right to know" on the part of parents unaware of a child's P2P activity. According to today's announcement materials, the goal is to "educate and stop the alleged content theft in question, not to punish. No ISP wants to lose a customer or see a customer face legal trouble based on a misunderstanding, so the alert system provides every opportunity to set the record straight."
It would be much easier to see "education" focus as a principled stand by content owners if they hadn't spent years suing such end users, securing absurd multi-million dollar judgments in cases that they are still pursuing in court. As it is, the shift looks more like a pragmatic attempt to solve a real problem through less aggressive measures after the failure of scorched earth tactics.

Imagine how much better this would have worked had the RIAA and MPAA gone with this approach right off....

posted by James Robertson

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history

Sound From the 19th Century

July 7, 2011 16:00:39.000

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have recovered the sound from an 1888 recording made by Edison - probably one of the first recordings ever made. You can get the story on how it was found and recovered, and then listen to the audio here.

To put the time in context - in 1888, the Civil War generation ran the country, and Grover Cleveland was in his first term of office as President.

posted by James Robertson

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marketing

Publicity is Cool?

July 7, 2011 9:17:03.863

The only thing I can come up with that explains this mini-revival of cassette tapes is a desperate need to find a way to stand out:

The last car to ship with a tape deck was the 2010 Lexus SC 430. Sony stopped making the Walkman last October. This can mean only one thing: Cassettes are about to be cool again. Indeed, upstart labels like Crash Symbols, Volar, and Bathetic are putting out cassette-only releases. Indie rock favorite the Mountain Goats recently came out with a tape of rarities, and established noise-pop bands Joan of Arc and Of Montreal are also putting out their new albums on cassette.

How many people in the core music buying demographic (teens) even have a tape deck? This is an interesting publicity stunt, but I can't see it having legs. I understand that big audiophiles prefer vinyl (for the analog sound), but tapes? Seriously?

posted by James Robertson

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JS4U 71: Executing Code on Page Exit

July 7, 2011 8:18:12.326

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we look at how to execute code on page exit. 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:

Exit Code

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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Spotify Closer to US Launch

July 6, 2011 20:49:07.000

Spotted in Engadget:

Spotify just threw up a US landing spot, inviting eager Americans to jump in line for a table at the party. Meanwhile, we just received confirmation on our own end that things are finalizing for testing here in the States, and we'll be sure to report back just as soon as our credentials clear.

I'm still not sure what this would buy me over Pandora, but we'll see when it launches....

posted by James Robertson

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Pharo Migrating Builds to Jenkins

July 6, 2011 17:55:10.000

The Pharo project is moving from Hudson to Jenkins - if you care about the details, check it out.

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posted by James Robertson

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ST 4U 103: Online Help for VA Smalltalk

July 6, 2011 9:43:23.106

Today's Smalltalk 4 You looks at the help system that comes with VA Smalltalk. The only trouble you may have with it is the warning about loading "active content" into your browser; we'll cover that in the tutorial. 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 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:


Today we'll look at the help system that comes with VA Smalltalk. It's standard Windows help - we'll go to the help directory and open that up:

Help

Depending on the browser you use, you may get a warning about loading active content. Since this content is local, and comes from a trusted vendor, we'll just ok it:

Accept Help

Accept Help

This opens up to the index page for VA help. From here, you can peruse all of the available topics:

Browse Topics

For example - say you wanted to get started with a database application - just dive into that topic:

Browse Help

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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Seaside and LDAP

July 6, 2011 8:36:17.000

Need LDAP sprinkled into your Seaside app? Charlie Meyer has a solution for you

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posted by James Robertson

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Fuel 1.5

July 6, 2011 7:51:54.181

Fuel (an object serializer for Pharo) is now at version 1.5 - what's new?

  • Initialize instances after materialization implementing #fuelAfterMaterialization
  • Ignore transient instance variables overriding #fuelIgnoredInstanceVariableNames
  • Limit serialization progress bar to update at most once every 250 milliseconds
  • Traits are serialized and materialized as a regular objects
  • Removed mappers system cache (Eliot)
  • Many new tests
  • Benchmarks: compare Fuel against StOMP, SRP, SIXX, Magma, EsAndEm and Fuel with progress bar
  • Benchmarks: new samples, scripts, and CSV exporter
  • Benchmarks: measure serialization stream size
  • Removed some redundant #fuelAccept:
  • Several aesthetic changes in protocols, categories and comments
  • Now #materialize answers the materialized root
  • Removed special cluster for HashedCollection - Now #rehash is sent via #fuelAfterMaterialization
  • MethodContext serialization does not serialize temps
  • Classes and Traits now serialize its environment (testCreateWithSmalltalkGlobalsEnvironment)
  • Fixed serialization of non-octet characters (testCharacter)
  • Fixed a bug serializing the system dictionary - FLWellKnownObjectsCluster handles it
  • Fixed a bug serializing class variables (testClassVariable)
  • Fixed a bug when serializing a collection with size greater than 1^16 with repeated elements inside
  • Fixed testTwoCompiledMethodsReferencingSameClassVariable
  • Optimization: instanceIndexes are directly created with the exact size (Henrik)

Fuel is part of the ESUG Summertalk project

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posted by James Robertson

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