Hi!

Michael Linderman <mlinderman at acm.org> wrote:
> Hi,
> We are in the process of selecting the programming environment for our 
> upcoming project and I would really appreciate if someone can answer the 
> following questions for me.

No problem.

> I wonder if Squeak has libraries/classes for Bayesian Theorem, Recurrent Neural Networks? 

I haven't heard of any - but I haven't got a clue about that domain.

> How can I develop applications in Squeak for PalmPilot, Cell phones. 
> I am not sure but I have a feeling that PICSmalltalk and PocketSmalltalk 
> discontinued.  Is that right? Then, what should I do? 

Ehm, PICSmalltalk is... not for the Palm IIRC. I am unsure about the
status of PocketSmalltalk but yes, I think it has gone unattended for a
while.

Squeak runs on lots of platforms - and can be made to run on lots of
platforms. I am unsure about the newer PalmOS versions, earlier it was
not possibly to get Squeak to run on it (due to the memory model IIRC).

> Can I call C routines from Squeak?

Yes, there are two mechanisms - FFI and plugins. FFI is simple and
dynamic, just make the call. The library will be dynamically loaded. But
FFI adds some overhead for the actual call - so if you need a LOT of
calls per second OR if you have more advanced needs - then a plugin for
the VM is the way to go.

Making a plugin is not hard - but you need to learn how the VM build
environment works and you need to look at the existing plugins to know
how it works. A plugin can be compiled internally into the VM or as a
dynamically loaded library.

The most of the functionality of the VM are in plugins - like Sockets,
Sound, Graphics etc.

> Regards,
> --Michael

regards, Göran