[Vm-dev] Simulator tutorial

[Ben Coman]

Just a discover-ability issue.  I googled "simulator" and that is what
turned up.

A new video would be real nice, and especially great if it also
included a sample of actual debugging the simulated VM.  Maybe this
would be something cool to drop on ycombinator/reddit, together with a
link to Eliot & Clement's partial read barrier paper ?

cheers -ben

On Thu, Apr 7, 2016 at 9:38 PM, Chris Cunnington <brasspen at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Nothing will make me happier. This time next week this problem will be solved.
>
> Chris
>
> On Apr 7, 2016, at 9:35 AM, Eliot Miranda <eliot.miranda at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Chris,
>
>     how about we meet v soon and u show you how straight forward it is, and you make a new video.  I feel frustrated (& worse; the phrase FUD comes to mind) to read messages like Ben's and your's, when the http://www.mirandabanda.org/cogblog/build-image/ page documents how to build a VMMaker image via a script, and when the built image includes a workspace with doits for launching the simulator in many configurations.
>
> :-(
>
> _,,,^..^,,,_ (phone)
>
> On Apr 7, 2016, at 6:02 AM, Chris Cunnington <brasspen at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I’m happy to see that people are still watching that video of mine.
> I made it work, sort of, by using very old images. I think it’s 2.2 or something.
>
> To my knowledge the simulator is broken and unusable. Like Alien FFI, it’s something you hear about, assume is a real thing, and then eventually find out it is not. In the hands of experts? Yes. But neither the simulator nor Alien is a mass market product.
>
> The simulator does not work with the Interpreter vm with any image. The simulator works for Cog if you are an expert.
> I’d be utterly fascinate if somebody could prove me wrong on this. I’d probably make a new video.
>
> Let me put it this way:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-gJMs6DwuE
>
> Chris
>
> On Apr 7, 2016, at 8:53 AM, Ben Coman <btc at openinworld.com> wrote:
>
>
> One of the advertised niceties is running the VM in a simulator.  I've
> been wondering for a while how to try it.  I found this ancient
> tutorial...
>  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J1yjWtuwJU
> which saves current image as 'source.image'
> then in original image does...
>    (InterpreterSimulatorLSB new openOn: 'source.image') test
> as advised at 2:15, but I get "Error: basicNew: failed"
> at the line methodCache := Array new: MethodCacheSize.
> where MethodCacheSize is nil.
>
> Is this still the correct way to invoke the simulator?
>
> I tried also "(StackInterpreterSimulatorLSB new openOn: 'source.image') test"
> with same result.
>
> If I use the example at the bottom of StackInterpreterSimulator class comment
> I get "Error: incomaptible image format"
>
> Also btw, the class comment of SimulatorMorph references
> Simulator>>openAsMorph which doesn't exist. Should this be
> StackInterpreterSimulator?
>
> I'm running on Linux-x86 platform.
>
> cheers -ben
>
>
>
>