[Setools] Gjallar: extracting features

[Chris Muller]

Hi Thierry, indeed, the breadth and depth of all the Squeak projects
and code out there is truly massive and intimidating.

One thing that has helped me grok others code and my own is having
improved the productivity of the tools for code exploration.  The
Hierachy Browser and Tracing Messages Browser have served me well for
years for this.  You can load Tracing Messages Browser from
SqueakSource for 3.9 or SqueakMap for 3.8 or earlier.  There are
certainly other tools too, but the point is I've noticed how many new
(and some veteran!) Squeakers have developed a habit of using only
Package Browsers and then scrolling and clicking around in those to
browse and edit code.

And, sadly, this obsession with Package Browsers has gotten worse in
3.9 because you can't even make Hierarchy Browser the default anymore! 
Its really boggling at how difficult it is to simply focus on the
*class-model* instead of always just the package-organization..  So I
usually find 3.8 better for groking code (at least until I get time to
fix up 3.9)..

There is one other small enhancement that has, in my dev image, paid
good dividends.  "Code Editor Enhancements" on SqueakMap allow me to
browse *from* anywhere I might be, *to* anywhere I could logically want
to go from that place.  Like, if I'm viewing a method, update:
aCustomer, I can double-click the text, "aCustomer", press a hot key,
and the Customer hierarchy opens up..  

The idea is by being able to navigate quickly without having to hunt,
scroll, click, click, scroll, and click, my train of thought is not
disrupted and I digest code much more quickly.

I think your idea about a skeleton application with base "user/role"
functionality is a good one; seems like most applications have that
doesn't it?

Cheers,
  Chris


> Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 23:03:44 -0700
> From: "Thierry Thelliez" <thierry.thelliez.tech at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Setools] Gjallar: extracting features
> To: goran at krampe.se, "Software Engineering Tools for Squeak"
> 	<setools at lists.squeakfoundation.org>
> Message-ID:
> 	<42f5c4430702072203p18d8030ap518363bb180f19ce at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> 
> For the last few days I have been trying to understand the Gjallar
> code. I like the Seaside-Magma approach. As mentioned somewhere else
> the code base could serve as an example for other applications.
> Trying
> to catchup with all this code is quite overwhelming.
> 
> >From my point of view, it would be great to see a subset of the
> application featuring just enought to have a user interface for the
> administrator role to login and create other users (different roles).
> The created users should be able to login/logout. This would be a
> great starting point to demonstrate several aspects including the
> Seaside-Magma approach. Most of the web applications I am interested
> in start with these features.
> 
> 
> Just some thoughts.
> Thierry
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Setools mailing list
> Setools at lists.squeakfoundation.org
> http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/setools
> 
> 
> End of Setools Digest, Vol 9, Issue 2
> *************************************
>