Beginners May 2006

beginners@lists.squeakfoundation.org

65 participants
84 discussions

What's the speed of Squeak?
by Charles D Hixson 07 May '06

07 May '06

I know that with it's heavy graphics front end, it can't be in the upper range (can it?), but how does it compare to, say, python, ruby, scheme, and C? Is it fast enough to write a database in? etc. I tried looking on the "computer language shootout", but the only smalltalk they cover is something called GST (Gnu Smalltalk?), which they say is for scripting. Anyway it's too slow for my purposes, but I heard that Squeak was faster... I don't need anything as fast as C, but I'd like something faster than Python.

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Color>>hex doesn't work ...
by Stephen Davies 06 May '06

06 May '06

Hi, Color>>hex in my 3.8 image sends a 'radix indicator not found' error. This seems to be because SmallInteger>>printStringRadix: puts a "10r" or "-10r" at the start of the printed value when asked for base 10, but doesn't put in a "XXr" when asked for other bases. The relevant bit of code in Color>>hex does this Here's SmallInteger>>printStringRadix: printStringRadix: baseInteger "Return a string containing a sequence of characters that represents the numeric value of the receiver in the radix specified by the argument. If the receiver is negative, a minus sign ('-') is prepended to the sequence of characters. The result is undefined if baseInteger less than 2 or greater than 36." | tempString | #Numeric. "2000/03/04 Harmon R. Added ANSI <integer> protocol" baseInteger = 10 ifTrue: [tempString := self printStringBase: baseInteger. self negative ifTrue: [^ '-10r' , (tempString copyFrom: 2 to: tempString size)] ifFalse: [^ '10r' , tempString]]. ^ self printStringBase: baseInteger and printStringBase: printStringBase: base | stream integer next | self = 0 ifTrue: [^'0']. self negative ifTrue: [^'-', (self negated printStringBase: base)]. stream := WriteStream on: String new. integer := self normalize. [integer > 0] whileTrue: [ next := integer quo: base. stream nextPut: (Character digitValue: integer - (next * base)). integer := next]. ^stream contents reversed So - how to fix. One "low touch" fix is just to get Color>>hex not to fuss if it can't find the "r" that it thinks should be there. But that leaves the strange behaviour of printStringRadix: which can't make up its mind whether to show the radix or not. I don't know what the right behaviour is; the comment in the methd doesn't clarify. So - what would an experienced Squeaker do? Thanks, Steve

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FW: FW: [Newbies] A squeak machine?
by Ron Teitelbaum 05 May '06

05 May '06

-----Original Message----- From: Jecel Assumpcao Jr [mailto:jecel@merlintec.com] Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 10:55 AM To: Ron(a)USMedRec.com Subject: Re: FW: [Newbies] A squeak machine? Ron Teitelbaum wrote on Fri, 5 May 2006 09:16:02 -0400 > I got your name from Hans-Martin, I was wondering if you could help Jim (see > message below)? This question came up on our squeak beginners list and I > thought it would be nice if we could fix Jim up with someone that could > help. Ok, though I am not subscribed to the beginners list and the message you forwarded does not include Jim's email address so this ended up being a private reply to you. Please forward it where you think it should go. > From: beginners-bounces(a)lists.squeakfoundation.org > [mailto:beginners-bounces@lists.squeakfoundation.org] On Behalf Of Jim Davis > Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 4:20 AM > To: beginners(a)lists.squeakfoundation.org > Subject: [Newbies] A squeak machine? > > Hi, > I'm just a post silicon test engineer for a company that is developing a > object oriented medium grain parallel processor on a chip. It's quite a bit > like a FPGA, but the chip implements ALU state machines and table lookup > logic. It has multiply / accumulate (dot product) units, datapath muxes and > lots of memory. The kicker is it's a tagged architecture, with 5 bits riding > shotgun on the 16 bits of data. That's 8 bits of tag and 2 ready bits for a > real-world 32 bit object. That sounds very interesting. Some previous Smalltalk computers (including massively parallel ones like the J-Machine) might give you more ideas: http://www.merlintec.com:8080/hardware/26 > I've heard talk in the office that a > harvard/princeton machine demo hack implementation would be nice, but that > seems really 1950's .My first thought was to build a FORTH machine, or a > bunch of forth machines, But Squeak seems really attractive and it goes well > with the object oriented mindset of the company and the chip. I am very familiar with the work Chuck Moore has been doing in highly parallel Forth chips and started my current 16 bit processor project inspired directly by his MISC designs. I found that a very tiny change (a SELF register and segmented memory addressing) made it very suitable for running object oriented variations of Forth. A second small change (to support blocks) made it into a good Smalltalk processor. Eventually I replaced the 5 bit opcodes with a more Transputer-like bytecode, but the basic features have remained the same: http://www.merlintec.com:8080/hardware/9 The current bytecodes are very similar to a special version of Squeak created by Anthony Hannan - http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/2119 The idea was that version 4.0 of Squeak is going to be a radical change where new images will not be compatible with older virtual machines and this would allow everything to be rethought. Later, however, it was decided that the new bytecodes would not be adopted in the future since even greater speed improvements will come from compilation techniques like Jitter or Exupery. The main problem with the current bytecodes is that the only practical implementation in hardware is a microcoded one. I have investigated this and found that it would be possible to do a microcoded machine with just one extra pipeline stage compared to a hardcoded design (unlike JOP, which adds two stages - http://www.jopdesign.com/) and essentially the same performance. But for now my impression is that a hardcoded design with a small local memory would be a better choice. > So? do you think I should burn a couple hundred hours of my own time trying > to cook this up? You should take a look at what has been done before and then decide for yourself. > BTW: this thing runs at 1 GHz and has 256 alu's, 64 macs, tons of > registers and scratch and 2X266 Mhz 40 bit ddr2 dram interfaces with 256 > Mwords of store.. That sounds great! My own FPGA designs run in the 50 to 100MHz range and the plan for the commercial version (using larger FPGAs than the current prototypes) would be for only about 9 processors. > Just how do I implement a parallel or massivly pipeline(d) squeak machine? Squeak itself is very sequential, unfortunately. You might get away with a three processor design where one runs the applications, the other bitblt and the third the garbage collector and other system stuff. But that is only if you are interested in running typical Squeak applications. For special software, like StarSqueak or Kadema there is lots of potential parallelism. http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/2292 http://www.squeakland.org/fun_projects/kedama/kedma_welcome.htm http://www.is.titech.ac.jp/~ohshima/squeak/kedama/ I have given some thought to the problem of implementing a massively parallel Smalltalk at the transistor level, but that is not a project I am currently working on: http://www.merlintec.com:8080/hardware/19 Good luck! -- Jecel

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A squeak machine?
by Jim Davis 05 May '06

05 May '06

Hi, I'm just a post silicon test engineer for a company that is developing a object oriented medium grain parallel processor on a chip. It's quite a bit like a FPGA, but the chip implements ALU state machines and table lookup logic. It has multiply / accumulate (dot product) units, datapath muxes and lots of memory. The kicker is it's a tagged architecture, with 5 bits riding shotgun on the 16 bits of data. That's 8 bits of tag and 2 ready bits for a real-world 32 bit object. I've heard talk in the office that a harvard/princeton machine demo hack implementation would be nice, but that seems really 1950's .My first thought was to build a FORTH machine, or a bunch of forth machines, But Squeak seems really attractive and it goes well with the object oriented mindset of the company and the chip. So? do you think I should burn a couple hundred hours of my own time trying to cook this up? BTW: this thing runs at 1 GHz and has 256 alu's, 64 macs, tons of registers and scratch and 2X266 Mhz 40 bit ddr2 dram interfaces with 256 Mwords of store.. AKA: Mr Jones. Just how do I implement a parallel or massivly pipeline(d) squeak machine?

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testrunner endless loop
by heph 05 May '06

05 May '06

hi there One of my sunit tests generated an endless loop, sadly I didn't save my image before I ran it because I didn't expect such a behaviour. I can't do anything right now. Is there a way to stop the testrunner? I don't want to lose all my changes.

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Reminder: Smalltalk Party in Cagliari, Italy - July 1st 2006
by Giovanni Corriga 03 May '06

03 May '06

Ciao all, we're holding a Smalltalk Party in Cagliari on Saturday 1st of July. This will be a great chance to have a friendly talk about Smalltalk and related technologies, meet some other Smalltalkers, and get to know a nice part of southern Europe. The party will be hosted in the premises of the Universita' di Cagliari ( http://www.unica.it ) and is sponsored by the Agile Group ( http://agile.diee.unica.it ) If you're interested in coming, please add your name to the wiki at http://smalltalkit.seasidehosting.st/seaside/pier/SmalltalkParty20060701 or send an email to giovanni(a)corriga.net . The wiki also contains travelling information which you may find useful. Giovanni

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RE: [Newbies] Hello your assistance is needed in this project
by Ron Teitelbaum 03 May '06

03 May '06

Mr. Tutu, Please forward your money to squeak so that we can teach new users! :-D I'm guessing that this slipped past our moderator. Ron > -----Original Message----- > From: beginners-bounces(a)lists.squeakfoundation.org [mailto:beginners- > bounces(a)lists.squeakfoundation.org] On Behalf Of Mr Malinga. > Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 10:28 AM > To: beginners(a)lists.squeakfoundation.org > Subject: [Newbies] Hello your assistance is needed in this project > > Dear One, > PLEASE I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE, > > I know you will be surprised to receive this letter. > > First I must Introduce myself; I am Mr.Tutu J.Malinga, of the Republic of > Liberia (West African Republic) and the Chief Security Adviser to Charles > Taylor, former President of the Republic of Liberia, who was forced to > resign on August 11,2003 by the United states Of America and other African > States for the sake of peace after fourteen years of ravaging civil war in > Liberia. Charles Taylor is currently on exile. > > I got your address through the South African Information Exchange > (S.A.I.E.).For fourteen years today there has always been growing > opposition and rebellion against Charles Taylor. > > Earlier last year the advancement of the rebels toward the capital > Monrovia has been unstoppable because of the support the rebels receive > from countries, which are against Taylor and his policies. Due to this > war, on the 23rd February 2003, was mandated by the president to proceed > to South Africa, to purchase ammunition from the Arms Manufacturing > Company In South Africa (ARMSCO) to fight the rebels. This mandate and > instruction was backed up with US$42. Million (Forty Two Million United > States Dollars) in cash, and was delivered by diplomatic immunity into > South Africa. I have already purchased the first batch of ammunition at > the sum of US$30 Million (Thirty Million United States Dollars), which was > delivered in June, and was negotiating for the purchase of the second > batch when the president was forced to go on exile. > > I saw this as a golden opportunity to divert this money, I have already > deposited this balance of US$12 Million (Twelve Million United States > Dollars) with a security Company, without declaring the actual content of > the consignment. I am presently residing here as a refugee. The financial > laws of South Africa do not allow a refugee to operate an account. In view > of this, coupled with the way the money was acquired, I have decided not > to invest this fund in South Africa, and solicit for the assistance of a > reliable and trustworthy international business man who can assist me to > recieve this fund,in overseas for investment. > > For your efforts, I am prepared to offer you 25% of the total sum while if > you will assist me recieve this money into your overseas account. I have > also set aside 5% of the total money for expenses that might be incurred > during the process of this recieve, and 70% will be for my investment in a > profitable venture in your country or anywhere else you may advice. > > >From the above, you will understand that my entire life and future > depends on this amount, as such I shall be very grateful if you can assist > me. Please note that this transaction is risk-free,as I have all the > documents from > > The security Company,the major thing I demand from you is absolute > assurance that the money will be safe when transferred into your account. > > If you can be of assistance, kindly contact me Also send me your private > fax and phone numbers for easier communication and confidentiality of this > transaction. > Yours Sincerely. > Mr.Tutu J.Malinga, > > > _______________________________________________ > Beginners mailing list > Beginners(a)lists.squeakfoundation.org > http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners

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Hello your assistance is needed in this project
by Mr Malinga. 03 May '06

03 May '06

Dear One, PLEASE I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE, I know you will be surprised to receive this letter. First I must Introduce myself; I am Mr.Tutu J.Malinga, of the Republic of Liberia (West African Republic) and the Chief Security Adviser to Charles Taylor, former President of the Republic of Liberia, who was forced to resign on August 11,2003 by the United states Of America and other African States for the sake of peace after fourteen years of ravaging civil war in Liberia. Charles Taylor is currently on exile. I got your address through the South African Information Exchange (S.A.I.E.).For fourteen years today there has always been growing opposition and rebellion against Charles Taylor. Earlier last year the advancement of the rebels toward the capital Monrovia has been unstoppable because of the support the rebels receive from countries, which are against Taylor and his policies. Due to this war, on the 23rd February 2003, was mandated by the president to proceed to South Africa, to purchase ammunition from the Arms Manufacturing Company In South Africa (ARMSCO) to fight the rebels. This mandate and instruction was backed up with US$42. Million (Forty Two Million United States Dollars) in cash, and was delivered by diplomatic immunity into South Africa. I have already purchased the first batch of ammunition at the sum of US$30 Million (Thirty Million United States Dollars), which was delivered in June, and was negotiating for the purchase of the second batch when the president was forced to go on exile. I saw this as a golden opportunity to divert this money, I have already deposited this balance of US$12 Million (Twelve Million United States Dollars) with a security Company, without declaring the actual content of the consignment. I am presently residing here as a refugee. The financial laws of South Africa do not allow a refugee to operate an account. In view of this, coupled with the way the money was acquired, I have decided not to invest this fund in South Africa, and solicit for the assistance of a reliable and trustworthy international business man who can assist me to recieve this fund,in overseas for investment. For your efforts, I am prepared to offer you 25% of the total sum while if you will assist me recieve this money into your overseas account. I have also set aside 5% of the total money for expenses that might be incurred during the process of this recieve, and 70% will be for my investment in a profitable venture in your country or anywhere else you may advice. >From the above, you will understand that my entire life and future depends on this amount, as such I shall be very grateful if you can assist me. Please note that this transaction is risk-free,as I have all the documents from The security Company,the major thing I demand from you is absolute assurance that the money will be safe when transferred into your account. If you can be of assistance, kindly contact me Also send me your private fax and phone numbers for easier communication and confidentiality of this transaction. Yours Sincerely. Mr.Tutu J.Malinga,

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Re: [Newbies] pathnames
by Serge Stinckwich 03 May '06

03 May '06

Le 3 mai 06 à 10:08, Todd Blanchard a écrit : > Are we still using the wiki at minnow? Seems to me I heard some > discussion about retiring it? > > Perhaps we ought to start a new one for the beginners. Be carefull to reply to the list and not to the sender of the message. -- oooo Dr. Serge Stinckwich OOOOOOOO Université de Caen>CNRS UMR 6072>GREYC>MAD OOESUGOO http://purl.org/net/SergeStinckwich oooooo Smalltalkers do: [:it | All with: Class, (And love: it)] \ / ##

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pathnames
by Chris Kassopulo 03 May '06

03 May '06

Greetings, I am trying to get a list of the files that are in a directory using: '/home/cpulo/data' asFileName fileNames. Inspecting this line of code shows me that the pathname is a ByteString which is a subclass of String. String has a method called fileNames. Three questions: Why does the pathname evaluate as a ByteString? Why doesn't the ByteString respond to the fileNames message? How do I do this? Thanks, Chris

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