[Q] How Posting Code for Squeak?
Stefan Matthias Aust
sma at 3plus4.de
Sun Jun 25 08:34:03 UTC 2000
At 09:14 23.06.00 +0200, Giovanni Giorgi wrote:
>Excuse me,
> I'd like to contriubute to Squeak Smalltalk, but I need of some
>newbie-like-information.
Very good questions, Giovanni.
For bug fixes or enhancements you find useful, please post them to this
list but make sure your subject contains [FIX] for a bug fix or [ENH] for
enhancements.
Please prepare your changes as a changeset (.cs file) with a preample that
contains your name, the date and a short description of the bug or the
changes done. For example
Change Set: 164NoDocumentLoading-sma
Date: 25 June 2000
Author: Stefan Matthias Aust
I always cursed the #readDocumentFile method for trying to read
the my first argument passed to my squeak application as an URL
or squeak object file so I made a Preferences setting to optionally
disable this method.
[...]
(You don't need to rant about IMHO questionable design decision as I did ;-)
Then attach the change to your email. Please do not included it by copy
and paste in the body of your email. The Netscape Navigator is known for
including attachments that it thinks is text in the body - when in doubt,
please use .gz compression. This can be done via Squeak's file list tool.
While we're of course glad about any contribution it would be nice if you
could check your change with the lasted Squeak version available which at
the time of this writing 2.9a, #2426.
I'm currently the one who's collecting the contributions posted to this
list and compiling them for the Squeak Central which has the final decision
whether something gets included or not.
However here're some guidelines of things that are very likely
o BUG FIXES - broken things need to be fixed ASAP. But keep in mind how
the bug impacts the rest of the system. If refactoring is needed, do this
also. But try to provide the smallest change possible.
o SPEED IMPROVEMENTS - if you detect a major performance problem, please
provide your optimizations. If it makes the code even simpler and better
communicating, even better. Please note, when in doubt I'd prefer the more
readable, even if slower alternative unless we're talking about a major
improvement here.
o GENERAL REFACTORINGS - if you can provide a better, shorter, faster,
more obvious alternative to existing source code, please send it in. If
you see bad code, rewrite it. If you see missing commments, add
them. Feel like this is your code, if it "sells," change it until you feel
comfortable.
o USABILITY IMPROVEMENTS - if a small enhancement can greately improve
the usability of the tools, add it. Keep in mind refactorings. The goal
is to provide the best development environment we can think of, nothing less.
o BASE CLASS ADDITIONS - if the ANSI standard recommends a method or
class which is missing in Squeak, add it. But keep in mind compatibility.
o OTHER ENHANCEMENTS - if I like it, I recommend to add it :-)
>And what if I'd like to post a simple application (I will support it when
>will be relased a new version of Squeak)?
Applications are more problemantic. It think nobody would mind (actually
would probably be glad) if you post applications for Squeak - either
directly to this list (if only a few KB large) or by posting the URL.
Use [APP] or [GOODIE] as subject tag if you like.
Do applications belong in a base distribution? It depends whether you see
the Squeak image as one large (and closed) world ready to explore by
anybody or whether you see it as a development platform which might contain
some examples but not every application you can think of. Currently, it's
kind of a compromise.
I'd probably suggest to add an application only in exceptional
cases. Actually, I think we have to ultimatively provide two base
images. One core image which contains only the base library and
development tools. This is the normal developer system, it might contain a
tutorial or interactive documentation but is not meant as an example how
great Squeak could be.
For this, we provided another, fat, image, that contains everything that's
cool. It should be created from the first image by filing in the other stuff.
Both images should be officially maintained. This means that we'll try not
to break applications which managed to get approved for the fat
image. Things like IRC, Scamper or Dan's Checker game are IMHO
applications which should go into such an image.
So, if you need your application in the base distribution, you best
directly lobby the Squeak Central ;-)
bye
--
Stefan Matthias Aust // Bevor wir fallen, fallen wir lieber auf
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