Squeak-dev May 2010

squeak-dev@lists.squeakfoundation.org

101 participants
401 discussions

quick handling of graphics files
by Ross Boylan 01 Dec '10

01 Dec '10

I have PNG files with document scans, and would like to view them as part of an application. I will also need to scale and/or pan them. One file took over a minute to open when I selected "open graphic in window" from the file browser. (ImageReadWriter formFromFileNamed: 'myfile.png') asMorph openInHand had about the same speed. I'm looking for advice on how to speed that up, or the information that is not possible. I found a similar question on the newbie list, but no one answered it. I'm guessing that it is the initial read and translation of the file that's taking the time, since resizing the image is much faster than loading it. This is really too slow to be practical, and much slower than imagemagick's display command, which opens in under 5 seconds. The image is a 400dpi black and white scan of an 8.5x11" page; the file is 144k bytes. BTW is there any particular reason the file browser opens a SketchMorph while asMorph on the ImageReadWrite result produces an ImageMorph? The former is closer to what I want since it is resizeable and not transluscent; on the other hand, the comment in SketchMorph says they are produced by the PaintBox, which is not true in this case. Squeak 3.10.2 on Linux with 32 bit color in X. I think squeak is using 32 bit color as well, but couldn't find the setting on a quick look (not in preferences browser).

11 24

WideString hash is way slower than ByteString hash.
by christophe.jalady＠free.fr 30 Sep '10

30 Sep '10

Just print this two scripts: |s| s := WideString with: (Character value: 16r55E4). [100000 timesRepeat: [s hash]] timeToRun. |s| s := ByteString with: (Character value: 16rE4) with: (Character value: 16rE4) with: (Character value: 16rE4) with: (Character value: 16rE4). [100000 timesRepeat: [s hash]] timeToRun. I've seen that "ByteString>>stringHash:initialHash" use a primitive. Could we have such optimisation for WideString ? Christophe.

5 25

[Documentation] What about package comments?
by Hannes Hirzel 13 Sep '10

13 Sep '10

Hello I found the proposal by Bernhard Pieber and Ralph Johnson to introduce package comments? It was in the thread HttpView2 where I think some people interested in documentation will miss it. An application could be to automatically generate documentation, i.e. for example at Squeaksource. --Hannes >From the HttpView2 thread On 4/23/10, Ralph Johnson <johnson(a)cs.uiuc.edu> wrote: > On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 5:39 AM, Bernhard Pieber <bernhard(a)pieber.com>wrote: > >> - IMHO, there should be first class package comments along the lines of >> class and method comments, i.e. version controlled in PackageInfo. This >> would greatly improve the Monticello browser. And SqueakSource could use >> them as project descriptions. (I once argued [1] that the easiest >> implementation of this would be a PackageInfo subclass for each package. >> Its >> class comment would be the package comment. Pre and post load code could >> be >> put there as well. You could reuse all the development tools like that.) >> >> [1] >> http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2005-February/088181… >> >> > This seems like a good idea. What tools would have to change to make this > work, and could we make this change backwards compatible? For example, if > you move the preload and postload code to the PackageInfo subclass then you > could leave forwarding code behind. Tools wouldn't bother displaying the > forwarding code if they saw the PackageInfo subclass, but would keep it so > that older versions of the tools would still work. > > -Ralph >

10 19

Documentation Team
by Casey Ransberger 25 Aug '10

25 Aug '10

Looking at http://squeak.org/Community/Teams/ I don't see a documentation team listed. Has it been disbanded? If the documentation team has been disbanded, I would like to offer to lead a new documentation team (in which case I would draft up a proposal with expected deliverables, etc.) If the documentation team has not been disbanded, I would like to join it.

7 16

Talking to Steve Jobs about Scratch.
by John M McIntosh 11 Jun '10

11 Jun '10

Let me give everyone an update on what is going on with Scratch.app, I've seen lots of discussion and speculation flow by on the esug, scratch and pharo lists, some of it correct, and some of it incorrect. First, Scratch.app was remove from sale in the app store because the Scratch programming language is an interpreted language, and it's not on the approved interpreted language list. My understanding is that Apple has not yet rejected apps because they are "made" with a particular language. The rejection is solely due to the result of Scratch being a non approved 'interpreted" language. Second, I drafted a letter titled: "Rejecting an app with foundations in the Dynabook vision" and posted it to: https://devforums.apple.com/thread/46425 At this time, this letter is not for public viewing since I want to have more discussion with Apple and the paid Apple developer community. It seems having public rage about the unfairness about what Apple is doing just makes Apple less receptive to dialog. I would ask the community not to cross post my letter anywhere until we have had more discussions with Apple. As an example this morning there was talk with a member of the App review team about having this matter ending up on Phil Shiller's desk. Third, I sent a copy of the letter to Steve Jobs. He did respond. Our incomplete conversation is private, no solution or decision has been reached, and due to Apple's earnings reports coming up next tuesday I don't foresee any activity on the matter until after that event. Fourth, I have interest & support from Dr Alan Kay, Dr Mitchel Resnick, and others, I think people do take the matter about the freedom to write applications in a language of their choosing and using a particular implementation (interpreted, JIT, compiled) seriously, so I hope movement with Apple on the general topic will occur shortly. Once Apple's management team has made a response I'm sure you will all hear about it. -- =========================================================================== John M. McIntosh <johnmci(a)smalltalkconsulting.com> Twitter: squeaker68882 Corporate Smalltalk Consulting Ltd. http://www.smalltalkconsulting.com ===========================================================================

31 65

OpenCL bindings for Squeak
by Josh Gargus 07 Jun '10

07 Jun '10

For the last month or so, I've been working on some OpenCL bindings for Squeak. I now have something that's worth showing to people. The code is on Squeak source at: http://www.squeaksource.com/OpenCL.html and some rudimentary installation and usage documentation is at: https://sites.google.com/site/schwaj/home/opencl-binding-for-squeak I'll write more over the weekend (hopefully in response to questions and comments), but now it's time for bed. Cheers, Josh

5 12

[ANN] Maui 1.2 release 1
by Chris Muller 07 Jun '10

07 Jun '10

In conjunction with the release of Squeak 4.1, I have made a new release of Maui that works with 4.1 and will be supported on that platform going forward. Maui is a user-interface builder for Squeak with a goal of _quickly_ producing effective drag-and-drop user-interfaces without having to write any code (although interfaces are also easily created via code). When used in conjunction with MaSarPackage (to announced shortly), applications can be easily deployed to SqueakMap that include the designers Maui-based user-interface. Maui is the framework I use exclusively for internal UI's at my company. Obviously I like it because I designed it to conform to my principles of an effective UI. However, a naked-objects type of user-interface will not be suitable for many situations or tastes. My teammates seem to be liking it, although they are polite. Nonetheless, it can be quite useful to have in the image for "quick and dirty" but useful image tools that just aren't easy to do any other way.. To use, in a standard Squeak 4.1 image, open SqueakMap, find Maui, install "1.2r1". To build a UI immediately, try dragging "Association" out of the browser onto the desktop. That's the Association class on the desktop, so drag the *class-side* constructor, #key:value: onto it... Your first Maui UI. I would have liked, of course, to release this with a bunch of "content" to entertain you. But given my large agenda, short resources, and the relatively low response to 1.1, I would like to try to get more mileage out of the original pdf document available on the swiki, into which I did put quite a bit of work into explaining Maui. Comments or questions about this 1.2 are very welcome. - Chris

4 6

Re: [Pharo-project] SUnit Time out
by Chris Muller 06 Jun '10

06 Jun '10

(Copying squeak-dev too). I'm not sold on the whole test timeout thing. When I run tests, I want to know the answer to the question, "is the software working?" Putting a timeout on tests trades a slower, but definitive, "yes" or "no" for a supposedly-faster "maybe". But is getting a "maybe" back really faster? I've just incurred the cost of running a test suite, but left without my answer. I get a "maybe", what am I supposed to do next? Find a faster machine? Hack into the code to fiddle with a timeout pragma? That's not faster.. But, the reason given for the change was not for running tests interactively (the 99% case), rather, all tests form the beginning of time are now saddled with a timeout for the 1% case: "The purpose of the timeout is to catch issues like infinite loops, unexpected user input etc. in automated test environments." If tests are supposed to be quick (and deterministic) anyway, wouldn't an infinite loop or user-input be caught the first time the test was run (interactively)? Seriously, when you make software changes, we run the tests interactively first, and then the purpose of night-time automated test environment is to catch regressions on the merged code.. In that case, the high-level test-controller which spits out the results could and should be responsible for handling "unexpected user input" and/or putting in a timeout, not each and every last test method.. IMO, we want short tests, so let's just write them to be short. If they're too long, then the encouragement to shorten them comes from our own impatience of running them interactively. Running them in batch at night requires no patience, because we're sleeping, and besides, the batch processor should take responsibility for handling those rare scenarios at a higher-level.. Regards, Chris On Sat, May 29, 2010 at 2:53 AM, stephane ducasse <stephane.ducasse(a)free.fr> wrote: > Hi guys > > in Squeak andreas introduced the idea of test time out > Do you think that this is interesting? > > Stef > > SUnit > ----- > All test cases now have an associated timeout after which the test is considered failed. The purpose of the timeout is to catch issues like infinite loops, unexpected user input etc. in automated test environments. Timeouts can be set on an individual test basis using the <timeout: seconds> tag or for an entire test case by implementing the #defaultTimeout method. > _______________________________________________ > Pharo-project mailing list > Pharo-project(a)lists.gforge.inria.fr > http://lists.gforge.inria.fr/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pharo-project >

6 6

[ANN] Dan Ingalls at HPI (Fwd: Einladung zum HPI-Kolloquium am 03.06.10, 16:00 Uhr, HS 2)
by Robert Hirschfeld 05 Jun '10

05 Jun '10

Hi -- Dan Ingalls will give a talk on "40 YEARS OF FUN WITH COMPUTERS" upcoming Thursday at HPI. Title, abstract, and venue are detailed in the attachment. Hope to see you there. Best, Robert http://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/hpi/veranstaltungen/hpi_kolloquium.html http://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/hpi/anfahrt -- Robert Hirschfeld hirschfeld(a)acm.org www.hirschfeld.org -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Einladung zum HPI-Kolloquium am 03.06.10, 16:00 Uhr, HS 2 Date: Thu, 27 May 2010 09:06:56 +0200 From: Hocker, Lena <Lena.Hocker(a)hpi.uni-potsdam.de> To: staff <staff(a)hpi.uni-potsdam.de>, student <student(a)student.hpi.uni-potsdam.de> Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, liebe Kollegen, die Professoren des Hasso-Plattner-Instituts für Softwaresystemtechnik laden ein zum HPI-Kolloquium. Es spricht: Dan Ingalls, SAP, Palo Alto Zum Thema: „40 YEARS OF FUN WITH COMPUTERS” Das Kolloquium findet am 03.06.2010, 16:00 Uhr, im Hörsaal 2 statt. Anfahrtsbeschreibung: Campus Griebnitzsee, Prof.-Dr.-Helmert-Str. 2-3, 14482 Potsdam http://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/hpi/anfahrt Mit freundlichen Grüßen Prof. Dr. Christoph Meinel Institutsdirektor und GF -------------- Lena Hocker Referentin Forschung und Lehre Hasso-Plattner-Institut für Softwaresystemtechnik GmbH, Potsdam Prof.-Dr.-Helmert-Str. 2-3 D-14482 Potsdam Fon (49) 331 5509 503 Fax (49) 331 5509 327 Amtsgericht Potsdam, HRB 12184 Geschäftsführung: Prof. Dr. Christoph Meinel

3 3

Etoys developer chat log
by Bert Freudenberg 02 Jun '10

02 Jun '10

Hi all, we just had a chat, few people around today (it's a holiday in the US): * Ricardo prefers the September release schedule * talked mostly about camera and movies * need replacement for the spam-ridden forums. help welcome. Full log below, as usual. And see you next Monday, same time: http://tinyurl.com/368xxgn - Bert - <Richo2> hi <Richo2> :) <bertf> ugh, I'm late -*- bertf apoligizes <bertf> apologizes, even ;) <bertf> hi Richo2 <Richo2> hi bert <bertf> anyone else here? <rockyBoland> I am <Richo2> hi rockyBoland <rockyBoland> hi <bertf> small group :) <bertf> Richo2: translation stuff is starting to look good :) <bertf> do you have an opinion abou the release schedule? <Richo2> thanks <Richo2> yes <Richo2> I think I prefer the second option <Richo2> just yesterday I added Andreas code <Richo2> for font support <bertf> Yes, saw that. <Richo2> and even though his code works fine, I'm worried of introducing a lot of new bugs <Richo2> having more time to found them and fix them is good <bertf> yes. we first need to switch over to using that code and then give it some time for testing <jecel> Would it be interesting to have the translation stuff in the basic Squeak? It would be nice if the GUI elements such as menus and buttons could be in local languages <bertf> Korakurider is working on getting the subversion repo into shape <bertf> jecel: definitely <bertf> I also tried http://www.squeaksource.com/WebCamMorph.html <bertf> copied the CameraPlugin from Scratch, works <bertf> (on Mac) <bertf> should work elsewhere too <bertf> rockyBoland: do you have some specific issue, or do you just want to listen in? <rockyBoland> mostly just listening in. I am considering using etoys to build a game for teaching GCD and LCM algorithms. --> matmo (~chatzilla(a)doconnel.force9.co.uk) has joined #etoys <matmo> hi all <Richo2> hi <bertf> ah, matmo <bertf> was just saying I tried WebCamMorph on Mac, works <matmo> great :-) <bertf> was surprised it drags in the plugin class. we don't use MC dependencies normally <bertf> and we do not have VM classes in the Etoys image <bertf> no VMMaker either <bertf> there is a bug when you rotate it <matmo> dependency removed <bertf> and duplicating it gives odd issues too :) <matmo> I had not thought of rotation or duplication yet but will check it out <bertf> maybe for easier testing we should make a project with the code? <bertf> we have some testers that are not familiar with Smalltalk tools <matmo> what issues have you got with duplication? <bertf> when closing one it stopped the other IIRC <bertf> I don't think we need to support duplicating it <matmo> projects, yes, there should be a some in a few days time (if squeakland upload works) <bertf> I thought the problems are specific to thomas' account <bertf> or do you have problems uploading too? --> karlram (~51aa9a20(a)skylab.immuexa.com) has joined #etoys <matmo> IIRC I tried an upload last week and failed (will check again). Also had problems saving. Will submit reports when I've had a chance to recheck it's not something I have done or doing. <bertf> karlram: hi <karlram> hi <matmo> hi <karlram> hi <matmo> the "movie" morph doesn't look like it has had much looove :-) <bertf> matmo: when more people have seen it maybe we can come up with a sensible list of tiles for it. <bertf> for now it seems you just threw everythin in ;) <bertf> the movie morph is one of the abandoned demos <matmo> sure. I've actually paired it down but any/all suggestions welcome <bertf> not much love indeed <bertf> well there are some unusual concepts, like the holder reference for storing frames <bertf> (in webcammorph) <matmo> what would you call storage for snapshots? <matmo> album <matmo> album? <karlram> there is also a internal video format <bertf> matmo: if possible, that should not be built-in <bertf> but rather you would write a script that gets a frame and puts it in a holder <bertf> that would be the "Etoys way" <bertf> though the idea of using moviemorph to hold frames might be interesting <matmo> I was thinking "convenience" and in that particular example taking multiple snapshots as fast as capturing <karlram> it would be nice if we could get project publishing work with videos <bertf> well, Etoys isn't really about "convenience", but about learning how stuff works ;) <matmo> the "manual mode" gives the script writer full control <bertf> yes. I think for a first iteration, that is all there should be <bertf> becasue it is impossible to remove features later <matmo> agree, I completely open to suggestions re use in learning context. I'm not in education so happily defer to others opinion <bertf> once we know how people would like to use it we can add convenience features, as needed <matmo> ok, so remove auto-capture? <bertf> well, hide at least <bertf> there are some tiles that are hidden in "etoy-friendly" mode <bertf> but if you are okay with removing it, that would be a good option for now too <bertf> makes code review simpler <matmo> ok, I'll take a look <bertf> do you have an idea about how to deal with the old cameramorph? <bertf> karlram: publishing movies doesn't work? <-- karlram (~51aa9a20(a)skylab.immuexa.com) has quit (Quit: CGI:IRC (EOF)) <bertf> oh. we lost karl <matmo> re camermorph, would it siffice to remove it from Objects tool? <bertf> Richo2: did you have anything else to chat about? <matmo> suffice <bertf> matmo: that's one option <rockyBoland> This chat room is obviously about etoys development. Is there a chat room or mailing list for etoys users? <bertf> it could also be rewritten to use CameraPlugin <Richo2> bertf: no, thanks <bertf> rockyBoland: not really <matmo> rewriting, yep, I planned to look at doing that <bertf> rockyBoland: most etoys users apparentyl don't liek chat rooms :) <matmo> many things, little time ;-) <bertf> it would allow older projects to work, if those should exist <rockyBoland> What about for people who want to develop projects using etoys? <matmo> ok, I will bump it up the list <bertf> rockyBoland: those are what I call "etoys users" <jecel> rockyBoland: this is a weekly developers meeting. The rest of the time this channel is very quiet and can certainly be used for general user questions <bertf> rockyBoland: but the better option is to write an email to the squeakland list <rockyBoland> Will do that. Sorry for interrupting your meeting. <bertf> no need to apoligize :) -*- bertf can't spell that word <jecel> Besides the list, there were also some online forums, right? I don't know how those are doing these days <bertf> attracting spam <bertf> we're considering to shut them down <bertf> replacing with google groups or yahoo groups or something like that <jecel> Ok, then the list is certainly the best place for users <bertf> needs to have a list gateway and forum view and spam protection <matmo> trying an upload to squeakland in a mo <bertf> ok <bertf> I'll call this meeting closed - everyone is welcome to stay around and chat of course. <bertf> the channel is open 24/7 :)

4 3

Jump to page: