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UK Smalltalk User Group Meeting - Wednesday, September 29th 2021
by Giovanni Corriga 21 Sep '21

21 Sep '21

The next meeting of the UK Smalltalk User Group will be on Wednesday, September 29th. For this month's meeting, we take a look at an example of an application written in Smalltalk. Specifically, one that fits in a cultural tradition that is as old as Smalltalk itself, if not older: that of using computers as tools to teach powerful ideas and to augment thinking. Dr. Geo ( http://drgeo.eu/ ) is an interactive geometry software with programming capabilities in Smalltalk. Dr. Geo aims to be an open, easy to study, modify and extend interactive geometry software. Ten years old kids use Dr. Geo to explore Euclidean geometric sketches; agile kids extend and program it with its embedded dynamic Pharo language and user interface. Hilaire Fernandes started the development of Dr. Geo in 1996. In 1998, he ported it to GNU/Linux at a time where no interactive geometry software existed on this system. It latter became officially a GNU application blessed by Richard Stallman. In the spirit of free software and access to source code, Dr. Geo integrated scripting and programmed figure as well as code introspection from the application itself in an interactive programming environment. Hilaire currently teaches in a junior high school in Geneva where he uses Dr. Geo to teach mathematics (geometry) and basic programming. This will be an online meeting from home. If you'd like to join us, please sign up in advance on the meeting's Meetup page ( https://www.meetup.com/UKSTUG/events/cbklbryccmbdc/ ) to receive the meeting details. Don’t forget to bring your laptop and drinks!

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UK Smalltalk User Group Meeting - Wednesday, August 25th
by Giovanni Corriga 16 Aug '21

16 Aug '21

The next meeting of the UK Smalltalk User Group will be on Wednesday, August 25th. Marcus Denker will talk about Variables in Pharo. We like to say that “Everything is an Object” in Smalltalk. This is true in many cases: Classes, methods, even the execution stack are reflectively available as objects. This talk shows how this idea can be extended to Variables and how Pharo implements first-class Variables for Globals, instance Variables, Class Variables, and even temporary variables. This presentation explores the Variable hierarchy, shows how variables simplify the compiler and how the reflective API provided by variables is used by the debugger. In a hands-on tutorial, we extend the language by defining new kinds of Variables. Marcus ( https://marcusdenker.de/ ) is a permanent researcher at INRIA Lille - Nord Europe ( http://www.inria.fr/lille/ ). Before, he was a postdoc at the PLEIAD lab/DCC University of Chile and the Software Composition Group, University of Bern. His research focuses on reflection and meta-programming for dynamic languages. Marcus Denker received a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Bern/Switzerland in 2008 and a Dipl.-Inform. (MSc) from the University of Karlsruhe/Germany in 2004. He co-founded Zweidenker GmbH ( https://zweidenker.de/ ) in 2009. Given the current COVID-19 restrictions, this will be an online meeting from home. If you'd like to join us, please sign up in advance on the meeting's Meetup page ( https://www.meetup.com/UKSTUG/events/cbklbrycclbhc/ ) to receive the meeting details. Don’t forget to bring your laptop and drinks!

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UK Smalltalk User Group Meeting - Wednesday 28th July 2021
by Giovanni Corriga 16 Jul '21

16 Jul '21

The next meeting of the UK Smalltalk User Group will be on Wednesday, July 30th. Russell Allen will talk to us about Self ( https://selflanguage.org/ ). Dating back to the late 1980s, Self is a prototype based programming language and environment in the broader Smalltalk family. Although Self has always been a niche research system, its influence can still be seen in areas as diverse as the fast VMs of Java and Javascript, in the prototype semantics of Javascript, and in the Morphic user interface used by Squeak, Pharo and Cuis. Russell Allen ( https://twitter.com/russell_allen_ ) has a background in law and computers and first came across Self in the late 1990s. Around 2008 he helped get Self running on Linux x86, set up the Self website and GitHub account, and for the last decade or so he has been helping keep Self as a project alive. In this talk, Russell will demonstrate Self as a running system, including the object semantics, language, and the multi-user Morphic development environment. He’ll talk about the current status of the project and the challenges it faces for the future. Given the current COVID-19 restrictions, this will be an online meeting from home. Please note that the meeting will start later than usual, to accommodate the speaker who will connect from Australia. If you'd like to join us, please sign up in advance on the meeting's Meetup page ( https://www.meetup.com/UKSTUG/events/cbklbrycckblc/ ) to receive the meeting details. Don’t forget to bring your laptop and drinks!

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UK Smalltalk User Group meeting - Wednesday June 30th
by Giovanni Corriga 23 Jun '21

23 Jun '21

The next meeting of the UK Smalltalk User Group will be on Wednesday, June 30th. Hernan Wilkinson ( https://twitter.com/HernanWilkinson ) will talk about his LiveTyping project. Currently, almost all mainstream dynamically typed languages support type annotation a la Strongtalk. Python calls it "type hints", TypeScript is JavaScript+type annotations, PHP calls it "type declarations" and Ruby does it through a tool called Sorbet. All of them annotate the types in the source code and it is the programmer who must write and maintain the annotation. In all cases, it is not mandatory for the system to correctly type check for it to run. LiveTyping ( https://github.com/hernanwilkinson/LiveTyping ) is a type system proposal for Smalltalk, that seeks similar objectives but implemented in a different way. First, it is the environment itself that collects and maintains the types based on the execution of the system, not the programmer. Second, the types are not interleaved in the source code, thus maintaining the syntax and simplicity of the language. And finally, the main objective is not to carry out a static type checking (although it supports it), but to augment the programmers experience increasing the usability of current tools such as searching for senders and implementers, and performing more accurate and safe refactorings. In this talk Hernan will briefly show how LiveTyping is implemented to later concentrate on the improvements made to the tools and the benefits it brings when developing software with Smalltalk. LiveTyping is currently implemented in Cuis Smalltalk ( https://cuis-smalltalk.org/ ) and has been successfully used for the last two years in three different universities in Argentina when teaching Object Oriented Programming and Design. Given the current COVID-19 restrictions, this will be an online meeting from home. If you'd like to join us, please sign up in advance on the meeting's Meetup page ( https://www.meetup.com/UKSTUG/events/cbklbryccjbfc/ ) to receive the meeting details. Don’t forget to bring your laptop and drinks!

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UK Smalltalk User Group meeting - Wednesday May 26th
by Giovanni Corriga 19 May '21

19 May '21

The next meeting of the UK Smalltalk User Group will be on Wednesday, May 26th. Caffeine ( https://caffeine.js.org ) is a livecoded integration of the SqueakJS Smalltalkvirtual machine with the Web platform and its many frameworks. Craig Latta will show the current state of Caffeine development through live manipulation and combination of those frameworks. The primary vehicle is a Caffeine app called Worldly, combining the A-Frame VR framework, screen-sharing, and the Chrome Debugging Protocol into an immersive virtual-reality workspace. Craig Latta ( https://blackpagedigital.com ) is a livecoding composer from California. He studied music at Berkeley, where he learned Smalltalk as an improvisation practice. He has worked as a research computer scientist at Atari Games, IBM's Watson lab, and Lam Research. In 2016 he began combining Smalltalk technologies with the Web platform, with an emphasis on spatial computing. He is currently exploring spatial audio for immersive workspaces. Given the current COVID-19 restrictions, this will be an online meeting from home. If you'd like to join us, please sign up in advance on the meeting's Meetup page ( https://www.meetup.com/UKSTUG/events/cbklbrycchbjc/ ) to receive the meeting details. Don’t forget to bring your laptop and drinks!

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UK Smalltalk User Group meeting - Wednesday April 28th
by Giovanni Corriga 15 Apr '21

15 Apr '21

The next meeting of the UK Smalltalk User Group will be on Wednesday, April 28th. Esteban Lorenzano will give us an update on Pharo: What's new? What is updated? What remains? This talk will present (and show working!) the Pharo 9 roadmap and principal changes made to Pharo since the release of the previous version. Esteban studied Computer Sciences at Universidad de Buenos Aires, and worked since 1994 in many object-oriented and low-level technologies in different software companies, serving in various positions from junior programmer to senior architect. In 2007 he co-founded Smallworks to offer Pharo-based agile development projects. Since 2012 he dedicated full time to developing the Pharo code and community. He works for the Pharo Consortium in Lille, France, as lead developer for Pharo and being responsible with the coordination of new releases and the implementation and maintenance of several Pharo libraries.Given the current COVID-19 restrictions, this will be an online meeting from home. If you'd like to join us, please sign up in advance on the meeting's Meetup page ( https://www.meetup.com/UKSTUG/events/cbklbryccgblc/ ) to receive the meeting details. Don’t forget to bring your laptop and drinks!

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UK Smalltalk User Group meeting - Wednesday March 31st
by Giovanni Corriga 22 Mar '21

22 Mar '21

The next meeting of the UK Smalltalk User Group will be on Wednesday, March 31st. In this meeting, Juan Vuletich will present a Vector Graphic implementation in Cuis Smalltalk. Graphics for interactive software have traditionally been constrained for performance reasons. The consequence is that most software has serious trouble adapting to higher resolution screens, requires platform specific widget kits, provides limited functionality, and has sub optimal visual quality. But improvements in computing power over the last couple of decades enable a brighter future: Cuis Smalltalk provides a VectorGraphics based implementation of the Morphic UI framework that addresses all these issues. Juan is a long standing member of the Open Source Smalltalk community. He started Cuis Smalltalk ( https://www.cuis-smalltalk.org/ ) 12 years ago and has led it ever since. He has been contributing kernel code to Squeak and the Squeak VM for over 20 years. He holds an Ms.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Buenos Aires. Given the current COVID-19 restrictions, this will be an online meeting from home. If you'd like to join us, please sign up in advance on the meeting's Meetup page ( https://www.meetup.com/UKSTUG/events/cbklbryccfbgc/ ) to receive the meeting details. Don’t forget to bring your laptop and drinks!

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UK Smalltalk User Group meeting - Wednesday February 24th
by Giovanni Corriga 07 Feb '21

07 Feb '21

The next meeting of the UK Smalltalk User Group will be on Wednesday, February 24th.Christian Haider will guide us in a tour of the Amber dialect of Smalltalk and its Silk web framework.In his own words... Amber [1], created by Nicolas Petton, is a Smalltalk implemented in JavaScript running in a web browser. Silk [2], written by the Amber maintainer Herby Vojčík, is a web framework in Amber. I was looking for a good solution for the web for a long time. At the last ESUG, I was bugging everybody about a Smalltalk in the browser, because I decided to redo the frontend of my current project [3] in Smalltalk instead of JavaScript. There were some developments, but only Amber was available. So I tried it for real on a little side project [4] to see if this route is viable - spoiler: it is! Silk, the web framework, caught my attention and I fell in love with it. Silk is very simple, straight forward and powerful, just the properties I love Smalltalk for. A Silk is basically a facade for a DOM node in the browser allowing the programmer to build up and manipulate the DOM in a direct way. Silk is so easy and intuitive that it never stood in the way and just worked. So, I could just concentrate on the complexities of the web (and the app). In this presentation I will walk you through the setup, show you the Amber tools and explore what you can do with Silk. I will try to justify my enthusiasm and appreciation for Silk :-). About me: My name is Christian Haider [5] and I use Smalltalk since the mid-90s. Fortunately, I earn my living with Smalltalk and use it on a daily bases (mostly VisualWorks). I like programming UIs and graphics. My largest open source contribution is a PDF library [6], the most significant one is Values [7]. [1] https://amber-lang.net/ [2] https://smalltalkrenaissance.wordpress.com/2015/06/29/silk-is-just-too-flex… [3] https://unsere-gelder.de/ (in German)[4] https://covidcrt.uber.space/ (sources at https://github.com/ChristianHaider/CoViD19UI) [5] https://christianhaider.de/ (in German)[6] https://wiki.pdftalk.de/doku.php [7] https://wiki.pdftalk.de/doku.php?id=complexvalues Given the current COVID-19 restrictions, this will be an online meeting from home. If you'd like to join us, please sign up in advance on the meeting's Meetup page ( https://www.meetup.com/UKSTUG/events/cbklbryccdbgc/ ) to receive the meeting details. Don’t forget to bring your laptop and drinks!

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UK Smalltalk User Group meeting - Wednesday, January 27th
by Giovanni Corriga 15 Jan '21

15 Jan '21

The next meeting of the UK Smalltalk User Group will be on Wednesday, January 27th. For this presentation, guest speaker Michael Engel will bring us back to basics with a bare-metal Smalltalk-80 system for the Raspberry Pi. In 2020, the Xerox PARC research laboratory celebrated its 50th anniversary. One of the most important developments coming out of PARC is the Smalltalk system, which integrates a programming language, operating system and graphical user interface. Today, most of the Smalltalk systems run in hosted mode on a conventional operating system. This contradicts Dan Ingalls' idea that "an operating system is a collection of things that don't fit inside a language; there shouldn't be one". Accordingly, original Smalltalk systems, e.g. for the Alto workstation, ran on the bare metal of the computer. In this talk, we will discuss an approach to create a bare-metal Smalltalk-80 implementation for the Raspberry Pi ( https://www.raspberrypi.org/ ), a popular family of ARM-based systems. Interesting aspects that will be investigated are the overhead involved in bringing the system to life and debugging it, adapting the system to different Raspberry Pi models, and constraints due to properties of the hardware and the Smalltalk-80 VM. Michael Engel ( https://multicores.org/ ) is associate professor for compiler design at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim/Norway. His research interests lie on the intersection of compilers, operating systems and modern hardware. In previous positions, Michael worked at different German Universities as well as Oracle Labs Cambridge and Leeds Beckett University. He also was founder and CTO of kernel concepts, the first German company working with embedded Linux systems in 1999. Given the current COVID-19 restrictions, this will be an online meeting from home. If you'd like to join us, please sign up in advance on the meeting's Meetup page ( https://www.meetup.com/UKSTUG/events/cbklbrycccbkc/ ) to receive the meeting details. Don’t forget to bring your laptop and drinks!

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UK Smalltalk User Group Meeting - Wednesday, December 30th
by Giovanni Corriga 11 Dec '20

11 Dec '20

The UK Smalltalk User Group will have an extra meeting this year on Wednesday, December 30th. feenk's Tudor Girba will present the latest in moldable development with Glamorous Toolkit. Moldable development is an approach to programming through which we make the inside of software systems explainable. Glamorous Toolkit makes it practical. And beautiful. Given the current COVID-19 restrictions, this will be an online meeting from home. If you'd like to join us, please sign up in advance on the meeting's Meetup page ( https://www.meetup.com/UKSTUG/events/275119813/ ) to receive the meeting details. Don’t forget to bring your laptop and drinks!

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