Squeak-dev April 1999

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130 participants
319 discussions

[ThingLab] Documentation complete!
by Reinier van Loon 05 Apr '99

05 Apr '99

Folks, version 4 of the ThingLab documentation is available at http://www.2share.com/thinglab/ThingLab%20-%20index.html It is the first complete version (text and graphics)! It totals 614 kB, so those of you with slow connections, be careful. I've put a WinZipped version at http://www.2share.com/thinglab/ThingLabReport.zip (sorry for WinZip, maybe someone can tell me how to SqueakZip 'em?) The 5th version will have seen some reformatting, hyperlinks, typing corrections and look nicer. Happy Easter, Reinier.

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[UPDATES] 17 more updates
by Dan Ingalls 05 Apr '99

05 Apr '99

Folks - I have just released 17 more updates, which I intend to wrap up and release as a 2.4 beta image/VM. NOTE that the last one will take a few minutes to run (it has to track down 328 methods with LFs in them). Here is a quick summary... 769misc-jhm -- John Maloney -- 30 March 1999 Misc things for the 2.4 release including: 1. new Mac project files for building the VM 2. cache colormaps used for translating between 16 and 32 bit Forms 3. faster mapColor:to: (using the colormap caching above) 3. change sound setLoudness to loudness: 770makeFlashUseCodec-jhm -- John Maloney -- 30 March 1999 Make the FlashFileReader use the new ADPCM codec. The results in much faster Flash file sound parsing on 2.4 and later VM's. 771nilSize-tkJU 772PrimTableFix-di 773PrimTableFix-di -- Dan Ingalls -- 30 March 1999 Fixes a bug when segment store prim fails due to inadequate space. 774scaleFactorBack-sw -- Scott Wallace -- 30 March 1999 Restores access to scaleFactor in the Viewer" 775soundFix-jhm 776FloatArrayFixes-ar -- Andreas Raab -- 2 April 1999 Fixes possible crashes if the argument to the primitives is a SmallInteger." 777MorphicErrors-ar -- Andreas Raab -- 2 April 1999 This change set adds error handling for morphic drawing methods. It also adds two menu items to a morphs debug menu that allow to resume drawing/stepping after an error has occured. It also fixes a problem in MorphExtension>>printOn: due to using nil>>size. To test the changes: * go to a morphic project * from the 'experimental' morphs choose a DrawErrorMorph (will immediately result in a drawing error) * Open an inspector on the DrawErrorMorph and select 'self' (will result in an error in the step method of the inspector. * Try to resume drawing from the DrawErrorMorphs debug menu or stepping from the Inspectors SystemWindows debug menu. 778TimeStampFix-di -- Dan Ingalls -- 2 April 1999 Made StringHolder timeStamp always return a string. Undid a work-around for nil. 779ProtocolBrowserFixes-di -- Dan Ingalls -- 2 April 1999 Enables emphasized items in morphic list panes, in particular for the protocol browser." 780StringMorphEmphasis-di -- Dan Ingalls -- 2 April 1999 Removes the style ComicAll, leaving ComicPlain and ComicBold. Adds a new style, NewYork, essentially equal to TextStyle default and removes sizes from those font names. Adds a field, emphasis, to StringMorph so that emphasized StringMorphs do not hold on to synthetically emphasized font copies. Updates extant instances of StringMorph, thus freeing old synthetic fonts. Merges all uses of Palatino to the same fonts. 781ScannerTweaks-di -- Dan Ingalls -- 3 April 1999 Allows sequences of more than two special characters to work as binary selectors. Fixes String numArgs so that , and -> return 1, as do the above multi-char symbols. Retracts the nearly absurd interpretations of ##name and ###name in Scanner. 782ShiftResize-di -- Dan Ingalls -- 3 April 1999 Adds shift modifier to the grow-handles, meaning equal width and height. 783LinesOfCode-di 784LF-Free-di -- Dan Ingalls -- 4 April 1999 This changeSet removes one lineFeed embedded in a string pattern, and defines a method for removing any other LFs in source code that is part of a CR-LF pair. Note that the scan may halt if it encounters any LFs other than in CR-LF pairs. 785LFScan-di -- Dan Ingalls -- 4 April 1999 One more nil fix. The postscript invokes the general removal of lineFeeds. TAKES A FEW MINUTES.

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BeSqueak development & testing
by Colin Sarsfield 04 Apr '99

04 Apr '99

Hello, I'm looking for experienced Squeakers to test out our BeOS Squeak VM, break it, and offer constructive criticism. If you are interested, the BeOS runs on many PCs & Macs--compatibility info is available at: http://www.be.com/support/guides/beosreadylist_intel.html (pcs) http://www.befunk.com/ (pcs; unoffical) http://www.be.com/support/guides/beosreadylist_ppc.html (macs) The BeOS is an exciting OS designed for high-bandwidth digital media and the internet. As such, I believe it is a perfect platform for Squeak. It is also worth noting that we have received excellent support from Be even to the point that they will be extending/reimplementing part of their API to accommodate a performance hole we found. I plan on making the sound & MIDI support robust, accelerating the balloon primitives, adding support for Ian's jitter, and making the VM event-based. Anyone who can help with this is welcome and encouraged to. The VM is currently in late alpha and supports the following features: File & directory primitives Screen primitives (including BDirectWindow output which is like DirectX, however our implementation is still in need of more optimization) Support for pluggable primitives TCP/IP client & server Sound output MIDI output (including output to the BeOS's Headspace Synth which is quite nice) Serial I/O Joystick It is currently missing support for: Sound input MIDI input The VM and the sources can be downloaded at: http://home.beoscentral.com/besqueak/ Thanks for your time, Colin Sarsfield

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FilterStreams prototype
by Marcel Weiher 03 Apr '99

03 Apr '99

Hello Squeakers, in an earlier message ( Musings about "ma" ) I mentioned a simple OO pipe-and-filter implementation. I have now finally started porting this stuff from Objective-C to Squeak. Do you think this is worthwhile pursuing further or just another crazy idea? :-) Motivation and Rationale ------------------------ The motivation for this package was the lack of reusability of printing and other encoding tasks. The problem is that each method taking part in an encoding task hard-codes the specific encoding task, for example a collection receiving a #printOn: message sends #printOn: to its elements. The problem becomes apparent when trying to implement a #debugOn: message that only differs from #printOn: for a couple of objects. At first, this seems easy, defining #debugOn: as a rename of #printOn: in Object, and implementing #debugOn: for those objects that should behave differently, let's say Forms. However, this fails as soon as there are nested objects to debug, for example a collection of Forms. The collection receives the #debugOn: message, which is translated to #printOn: and this in turn sends #printOn: to all the Forms, not #debugOn: ! On an abstract level, this could be solved by adding 'subclassing' of operations that works just like subclassing of objects with a similar treatment of self (in this case, the current operation). With the language as it is now, this feature can be simulated by letting the stream argument that is constant in these operations also carry the encoding message. Overview -------- The basic FilterStream interface is the #write: message to which it responds by passing the argument of the #write: message to its target using another #write: message. This makes FilterStreams composable but doesn't actually accomplish anything. To accomplish its processing, each FilterStream sends a processing message to the objects it receives with itself as the argument, expecting the object to write itself on the stream in an appropriate encoding. Each FilterStream subclass defines its own processing message. As a matter of fact the default action described above (forwarding the argument to the target) is actually accomplished indirectly using a filter message defined for Objects and basic FilterStreams. Status ------ This is the first prototype implementation. The basic skeleton is there and there is an implementation of a PrintStream that could replace #printOn:. Currently, it is implemented with a #printOnStream: message paralleling the current implementation because I am not quite ready for open-heart surgery yet... :-) There is some code interfacing FilterStreams with the current Streams and Collections, but that isn't fully thought out yet. Using FilterStreams ------------------- You get a filter stream by sending its class the 'stream' message. You write any object(s) by sending: filter write:object. You get its results by sending: result := filter contents. Nesting: You can nest FilterStreams using the #stream: creation message with another FilterStream. #contents will be passed through to the final FilterStream. Defining new FilterStreams -------------------------- - Subclass the FilterStream that matches your new functionality most closely - In your new FilterStream, implement a class method called #filterSelector that defines the a single argument filterMessage your filter will send. - In class Object, (category 'filter streaming') implement the cover method for your filterMessage. This simply send your superclass's filterSelector. - define an implementation of your filterMessage for every class you want to behave differently for your FilterStream compared to your FilterStream's superclass. Important: when implementing your filterMessage, use #write: to write subordinate objects to the stream, do not use the filterMessage! This ensures that your method will be reusable by future subclasses. Applications ------------ All sorts of Byte-Encoding tasks, including #printOn:, #storeOn:, HTML and XML encoding, argument marshalling etc. All these operations could now share common code. Other processing and encoding tasks. Morphic Canvases, for example, would make a fine FilterStream, with the inherent double-dispatching allowing both the Canvas and the graphical objects to react specially. I've also implemented an HTML processing framework using this technique. Future Directions ----------------- - Finish and polish the implementation. - Replace current coding mechanisms with FilterStreams. - Better integration with the current Streams mechanism. - Implement read capabilities (co-routines and/or buffering) - FilterStreams are really a special kind of reified operation. It might be interesting to see what a generic facility for reified, hierarchical operations would look like. Marcel Ôøº

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What is a complex method?
by Daniel Vainsencher 03 Apr '99

03 Apr '99

I'm considering writing an alternative browser that would show the relative complexities of methods and maybe classes. Also maybe other atttributes. To do that I need a good definition of "what is a complex method?". On a more concrete level, I'm looking for some sort of scoring system. Some ideas - A primitive gets some points. Accessor methods and ^self methods are the simplest (I can think of). Simple mutators are a bit more complex. Message sends make a method more complex. (self sends add less complexity because the reciever type is known? how about super sends?) How should conditionals, temporaries, variable accesses enter into the system? How about other dimension? what other things can be practically detemined about a method? for example, whether it has side effects (directly). What else would you like to know about methods at a glance? Does anyone have interesting references on this topic? Daniel Vainsencher

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[FIX] Object>>printOn and Morphic Wrappers
by Daniel Vainsencher 03 Apr '99

03 Apr '99

A small refactoring and changes in made in Object to make the default printOn: available as shortPrintOn:. I'd like to see the (small, very compatible) Object changes be inserted in 2.4 A new type of Wrapper is added that represents all objects using shortPrintOn:, for use when the printOn: for that object is not very meaningful. Also parameter names in the MW menus that displayed callable methods used to be truncated to 10. This change set truncates the total call text at 40, instead. Daniel Vainsencher Content-Type: text/plain ; name="MWExport.3Apri423pm.cs"; charset=us-ascii Content-Description: MWExport.3Apri423pm.cs Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="MWExport.3Apri423pm.cs" Attachment converted: Anon:MWExport.3Apri423pm.cs (TEXT/MSIE) (00007F57)

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Re: [Q] Sound on Linux 2.0.30 + libc5
by Lex Spoon 03 Apr '99

03 Apr '99

Ninja <chunsj(a)mailx.dacom.co.kr> wrote: > I've compiled Squeak 2.3 yesterday with jit(?) support and sound. > But I cannot hear sound. I think this is because I do not > have OSS sound module( Kernel version is 2.0.30 + libc5 ). > Do I must have OSS module ? Or is there any other method for > me to hear beautiful squeak sound ? > > Thanks in advance. What does "cat /dev/sndstat" say? If sound works at all on your Linux box, then you almost certainly have OSS. OSS is distributed with the standard kernel source code. Lex

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re: Squeak and MP3
by Craig Latta 03 Apr '99

03 Apr '99

Hi-- stp writes: > MP3 sounds marginally better than RealAudio compression. Anyone > with working ears and headphones costing more than $3 can easily > tell the difference between MPs and even a cheaps**t sound card. Hmm. I think MP3 at 128kbps or higher sounds very much better than RealAudio. The "no loss of quality" claim isn't completely silly (only mostly)... If the source has already been severely compressed spectrally (or just doesn't have any very low or high frequencies) then it compresses very well. :) I've written a subclass of MixedSound called ExternalSampledSound. It fetches samples from an ExternalStream (on a file or a socket, for example) while playing. It just does WAV decoding currently; it would be strightforward to make it understand MP3 (or QuickTime or whatever). -C -- Craig Latta composer and computer scientist craig.latta(a)netjam.org www.netjam.org latta(a)interval.com Smalltalkers do: [:it | All with: Class, (And love: it)]

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RE: #(1) asFloatArray = 2
by Raab, Andreas 02 Apr '99

02 Apr '99

Thanks for letting us know, there is a minor glitch in the primitive. The workaround is to comment out the primitive in FloatArray>>= until this has been fixed. Note that it will only affect comparisons between FloatArrays and SmallIntegers (which is not really useful anyways). Andreas -- PLEASE NOTE NEW EMAIL ADRESS! +===== Andreas Raab ========= (andreasr(a)wdi.disney.com) ==+ | Walt Disney Imagineering Phone: +1 818 544 5016 I I Glendale, CA Fax: +1 818 544 4544 I +======< http://isgwww.cs.uni-magdeburg.de/~raab >========+ > ---------- > From: stan(a)stanheckman.com > Reply To: stan(a)stanheckman.com > Sent: Friday, April 2, 1999 9:41 AM > To: squeak(a)cs.uiuc.edu > Cc: recipient list not shown > Subject: #(1) asFloatArray = 2 > > Comparing a FloatArray to a small integer segmentation faults, at > least with the 2.3 VM on Linux. For an example, evaluate the subject > line of this message. Save your image first. :-) > > -- > Stan >

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RE: Squeak and MP3 support? (& DVD too!)
by Adam Hill 02 Apr '99

02 Apr '99

Before people jump on Steven for the negativity of his post. Remember, he is the Squeak sound guy. Musicians *in general* have better hearing than the rest of us. They can hear things us no-earplug-wearing-mowing-our yard-for-X-years can hear. Though the DVD stuff sound interesting, I doubt we could get Macrovision to let us put their encryption algorithms into Open Source. There are many unencrypted discs however. adam hill... (I am still recovering from a 16 bit/44kHz Vs 24/96 argument) > > "MPEG3 MP3 (MPEG Layer 3) is a method of compressing audio samples with > > minimal loss of quality, in fact compression of up to 12:1 is > possible with > > no loss of quality. > > This is hogwash marketing drivel from the MPEG committee. MP3 > sounds marginally > better than RealAudio compression. Anyone with working ears and headphones > costing more than $3 can easily tell the difference between MPs and even a > cheaps**t sound card. > > > > PPS> On a related subject, has anyone looked into Squeak and > DVD support? > > DVD (digital versatile disk, or digital video disk) promises to > combine new > > compression techniques for both audio and video signals [...] > > DVD can store over a dozen format, but most of them will be decoded by the > player or very low-level software. I'm not sure of the value of > writing this > stuff in Squeak. > > -- > stp > > Stephen Travis Pope | stp(a)create.ucsb.edu | > http://www.create.ucsb.edu/~stp

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