Beginners February 2007

beginners@lists.squeakfoundation.org

45 participants
30 discussions

Creating custom events in a domain.
by Mispunt 25 Feb '07

25 Feb '07

Hi Squeakers, I am working an a project where we have a domain. this domain should not know the classes outside the world, so to communicate the domain should fire an event where the classes outside the domain could react to. How could this be done? I didn't find anything about it in the wiki.. Kind regards, Mispunt

3 2

Squeak Foundation 2007 Election In 8 days
by Ron Teitelbaum 23 Feb '07

23 Feb '07

Hello Everybody, As a reminder you only have 8 days to register to vote for the 2007 Squeak Foundation board members. For details about candidates you can visit: http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/5920 . You are only eligible to vote if you have a certified squeak people Account http://people.squeakfoundation.org/ . You must have a certification of at least Apprentice to vote. So register now and ask people you know to certify your account. Don't forget to vote! Thank you, Ron Teitelbaum Squeak Elections Team Member

1 0

What to do when package install fails?
by Blake 23 Feb '07

23 Feb '07

Here's a good noob question: What should one do when a package install fails? I downloaded the squeak dev image 76 which doesn't seem to have Seaside installed (it's supposed to as far as I can tell) but when I try to load the Seaside installer, that fails during "initialization". (Same on all versions: The progress bar gets about 1/3 of the way and then stops. I havet to Alt+. out of it.) I never know what to do when that happens: Is the environment in an unstable state at that point? Is it best to just quit without saving? If I load an earlier version of the package is that okay? ===Blake===

3 5

Squeak suitable for teaching 3D animation game programming at college level?
by Il-Hyung Cho 23 Feb '07

23 Feb '07

Well, the subject says all. The purpose of the course is to learn object oriented analysis/design/development methodology, but students can pick their own application to develop. I think developing 3D game would fit well into the course. IMO, game programming fits very well to OO concepts. All the entities envolved in the game are implemented as objects and all of them have their own behavior. The overall development process should fit into OOA/OOD/OOP. I came across a book titled "Object-Oriented Game Development" by Julian Gold. I guess I can use C++ or Java, but I wonder about Squeak. Any idea? Thanks, Il-Hyung Cho Ph.D. Computer Science Saginaw Valley State Univ

2 1

Spaghetti code
by Blake 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

I'm half thinking-out-loud here and soliciting thoughts on a programming lesson. If this sort of thing bugs you, feel free to ignore. --- My son is coding this flow-chart as a Q&A type application: http://media.www.gamespy.com/articles/633/633817/img_2913464.html So, it says, "You found something!" then asks "Is it alive?" and then branches out accordingly. I'm letting him muddle through with the idea of using his code as a platform to teaching him a better approach (or approaches). Looking at the chart, it looks like spaghetti code, and reminds me of some of the stuff I did in BASIC. And that's sort of what he's doing within Smalltalk. I'm actually tempted to show him how it would look in BASIC using GOTOs and line numbers. It would have the advantage of being easy to see all in one glance. But I want to, of course, show him a better approach and explain why it's better. My first thought was to make a state machine, but I don't think that'd be much better, in fact. Then I thought of what I would do, professionally, in a similar context: The problem with the spaghetti code and even a state machine is that it's static, and adding bits and pieces tends to require everything to be massaged around the new parts. In the real world, I know that the chart's not going to be static. I'd probably end up create a linked list of one-exit nodes and two-exit nodes. So, that's what I'll probably show him. The other thing I'd do, though, is put this all in an editable text file, like: 1,foundsomething,"You found something",alive 2,alive,"Is it alive?",friend,smash 2,friend,"Is it a friend?",lately,scary 1,smash,"Smash it with a stick!",shiny But I'm wondering if this last wouldn't be too much. Thoughts?

4 8

Ralph Johnson video lectures on Smalltalk
by Michael Davies 16 Feb '07

16 Feb '07

I've just found a link to a set of videos and lecture notes from Ralph Johnson's lectures on Smalltalk (based on VisualWorks I believe): http://st-www.cs.uiuc.edu/users/johnson/cs497/notes98/online-course.html The lecture notes are accessible, but the video links seem to be dead. Does anyone know if they are still accessible anywhere?

7 8

newbie stuff
by David Urquhart 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

Firstly thanks for the tips I received on how to browse code in Squeak. Secondly a suggestion - when introducing beginners, a reduced list (but effective set) of classes and methods would make learning easier because the structure of the system would be more apparent and there would be less 'noise'. A metaphor would be teaching an alien how to live on earth - you might start by showing them how to live in a village, then once they knew how to go from house to house and shop etc, you might take them to a town where they can learn to use a library and catch the bus. Finally they might take those ideas to the city just like once I know smalltalk and squeak better I will be able to make use of all these classes and methods. So for instance you might only offer me one type of morph, one type of canvas, one openInBlah etc. So maybe this would be a switch in the browser to hide/show classes and methods of secondary/extended/intermediate/progressed kind. Some questions: Does Squeak follow a 3-button mouse approach to human interface? Is there a plan to surrender that initial idea - I think 2-button is becoming an assumed thing these days irrespective of whether you use Windows, Linux, Mac or something else. How would Squeak have to change if it moved to a 2 button model? I'm trying to create a Morphic class that contains a subMorph called internalCircle that is fitted to the bounds of its square parent. Ideally I could then move the parent around and the child would move with it. What's the best way to do this? I want them to be Morphs because I want them to be both visual and encapsulate (different) behaviour of an 'experiment' and a sub component of that experiment. I'm hearing references to 'scripting' in Squeak or the toy thing that's related. What is it and do I need to learn about it if I'm doing Squeak application development? Finally I have accidentally deleted the posting, but someone referred to some incomplete wiki article they had written about what Monticello, Squeakmap etc are and how they work. I just wanted to say it was an excellent piece, very helpful - and if the first 2 pages (up to the terms section) were taken as is they would be very helpful for beginners and so I would move the unfinished part off to some other page. Also perhaps the way the 'rules' are explained could be polished and made more readable (to non-grad CS students) TIA for any responses Dave _________________________________________________________________ Join the millions of Australians using Live Search. Try live.com.au http://ninemsn.com.au/share/redir/adTrack.asp?mode=click&clientID=740&refer…

3 3

squeak on Linux for amd64 architecture
by Baeckham 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

Hi, months ago I used squeak a little bit under Linux x86. Now I got a new system with core2duo cpus. So I am on amd64 architecture now. But now I ca not use squeak anymore. Is there a amd64 squeak available - on the website I only get the one for i686. Thanx Steffen

5 6

Removing an object instance
by smillet 13 Feb '07

13 Feb '07

Hello, I would like to know when an object created in a workspace is deleted (garbaged). For exemple, when I do the following in a workspace, MyWorld new inspect. the object is allocated Then I close the workspace and the inspect window. I then ask for MyWorld allInstances in another window and the value is 1. I dont understand this behaviour. The object shoudnt be referenced or only by weak references, no ? Sorry if this question has already been answered. Stéphane Millet

4 3

The Weekly Squeak Summary No. 10: Jan 28 - Feb 10, 2007
by Michael Haupt 11 Feb '07

11 Feb '07

Dear Squeakers, welcome to the The WeeklySqueakSummary, an irregular traffic-dependent report on what's going on in the world of Squeak based on the WeeklySqueak blog. Highlights of the past weeks: Squeak board elections are due! [4] Eliot Miranda and Vassili Bykov have left Cincom to work with Gilad Bracha at Cadence. The project they are working on seems to be very interesting - too bad they can't say much about it. Anyhow, they are using Smalltalk in development [1,10]. The complete text of an NSF grant given to Alan Kay's group at Viewpoints Research Institute is available [9]. It is a highly interesting read for everyone interested in anything ranging from GUI and application development to VM implementations. Also, Ian Piumarta's recent presentation on implementing object systems [12] - which work contributes to said grant - is worth a good long look. The past weeks' news items: [1] Taking the Beat of Cadence http://weeklysqueak.wordpress.com/2007/01/29/taking-the-beat-of-cadence/ [2] Strongtalk Interview with David Griswold http://weeklysqueak.wordpress.com/2007/01/29/strongtalk-interview-with-davi… [3] New Seaside Blog http://weeklysqueak.wordpress.com/2007/01/30/new-seaside-blog/ [4] 2007 Squeak Board Elections announced http://weeklysqueak.wordpress.com/2007/02/01/2007-squeak-board-elections-an… [5] Squeak Foundation Board meeting notes - November 2006 to January 2007 http://weeklysqueak.wordpress.com/2007/02/02/squeak-foundation-board-meetin… [6] Recent VM Releases http://weeklysqueak.wordpress.com/2007/02/04/recent-vm-releases/ [7] Recent Squeak packages releases http://weeklysqueak.wordpress.com/2007/02/04/recent-squeak-packages-release… [8] Team reports for October - December 2006 http://weeklysqueak.wordpress.com/2007/02/05/team-reports-for-october-decem… [9] Getting the Message http://weeklysqueak.wordpress.com/2007/02/05/getting-the-message/ [10] OO programmers fall into two categories: Smalltalkers and those who don't get it http://weeklysqueak.wordpress.com/2007/02/06/oo-programmers-fall-into-two-c… [11] OLPC Under the Cover http://weeklysqueak.wordpress.com/2007/02/08/olpc-under-the-cover/ [12] R U 'N Love w/Dynamic Languages? http://weeklysqueak.wordpress.com/2007/02/08/r-u-n-love-wdynamic-languages/ You can find this and much more on The WeeklySqueak blog, the newsblog dedicated to the world of Squeak: http://news.squeak.org/ Subscribe to the WeeklySqueak RSS feed: http://news.squeak.org/feed/ Happy squeaking, Michael

1 0

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

Beginners February 2007