Beginners December 2009

beginners@lists.squeakfoundation.org

29 participants
28 discussions

Problem inputing the '^' character on abnt2 keyboard
by Guilherme Prada 11 Dec '09

11 Dec '09

Hi everyone, I am having an issue with the ^ character, I use a brazilian ABNT2 keyboard. When I type ^ I get a question mark. I can not find any preferences related to layout of keyboard.Could someone help me? Thanks

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Expected menu items not there
by Tim Rowe 09 Dec '09

09 Dec '09

As a total Squeak newbie (as of this evening!) I'm having some trouble following through the Squeak by Example eBook. Early on, the boo gets me to type: Time now in a workspace, yellow-click and select print it. That worked fine. Now I'm in chapter two, I've created the SBECell class and tring to inspect it, but when I yellow click on anything in a workspace window I don't get the same list of items. Even if I go back to what worked: Time now a yellow click doesn't give me the option of print it! The options I get are: Set font Set style Set alignment -- make project link -- find find again set search string -- do again undo -- copy cut paste paste... -- accept cancel Can anybody work out what I've done, and what I need to do to get the print it and inspect it menu items back? Thanks in advance, Tim

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Elearning squeak
by thegreenman 04 Dec '09

04 Dec '09

Hello all, I am a returning (read:old) student trying to pick up a bit of programming knowledge. I'm looking for online lessons, preferably class lectures (like Berkeley does for Scheme) or some other video or audio learning aids such as podcasts. Is there a central repository for Squeak learning links somewhere that I have missed in my searches? I have the Learn Programming with Robots book, but it seems a bit too basic for my tastes, recommendations fpor other texts would be appreciated as well. Is there something along the lines of a first year CS textbook focused on Squeak? Thanks, Chris

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UDP client-server revisited...
by Lawson English 03 Dec '09

03 Dec '09

Well, trying to get the example code working using class OldSocket. Doesn't seem to work with squeak or cobalt. I'm stuck trying to figure out how to do it period, and when the examples don't work, I'm lost... ;-/ Suggestions? Help? Thanks. Lawson

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Referencing a variable?
by Amir Ansari 03 Dec '09

03 Dec '09

Dear list I've been looking through books, blogs and lists for a solution to this problem, but can't find anything! Which means that I'm not thinking about it in the right way... I'd be very grateful if someone could enlighten me! I have myLibrary (an OrderedCollection) of Books (class with 'title' and 'author' instance variables): myLibrary := OrderedCollection new. myLibrary add: (Book new title: 'Hamlet'; author: 'Shakespeare'); add: (Book new title: 'The Hobbit'; author: 'Tolkien'); add: (Book new title: 'Ben Hur'; author: 'Wallace'). Now, if I want to gather all the titles and authors into new collections, I can do the following: titles := myLibrary collect: [:each | each title]. authors := myLibrary collect: [:each | each author]. But I'd like to reuse the code as much as possible, so I'd prefer to do something like this: element := 'title'. choice := myLibrary collect: [:each | each element]. So I'm trying to refer to the instance variables 'title' or 'author' using another variable called 'element'. But it doesn't work, and I can't figure out another way to do it... Is there another solution? Thanks!

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Indenting Code
by Ole Voß 02 Dec '09

02 Dec '09

I was wondering how to indent a whole block of code at once? I often try things out in a workspace window and then C&P the contents into my methods, unfortunately the indentation is never quite the right depth. Could somebody help me out? Kind regards, Ole.

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[semi-OT] (fwd) Re: What Killed Smalltalk?
by Benjamin L. Russell 01 Dec '09

01 Dec '09

There was an interesting post on comp.lang.smalltalk which, although semi-off-topic (it concerns Smalltalk as a language, rather than Squeak as an implementation specifically), reveals some of the misunderstandings that many industry professionals have toward Smalltalk in general. The main portion of the message consists of a "(virtual) conversation between a decision maker and a Smalltalk programmer." It seems that many of these misunderstandings (with the exception of the one related to speed, since Squeak is actually quite fast) relate to Squeak as well. Any comments? A forwarded copy of that post follows: On Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:15:17 +0100, in comp.lang.smalltalk Guido Stepken <gstepken(a)googlemail.com> wrote: --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- Truth schrieb: > After watching http://railsconf.blip.tv/file/2089545/ I have to > respond - somewhere. Smalltalk died of a hundred cuts. Oh, yes, i really enjoyed watching this. I think, smalltalk died a lack of communication what smalltalk really is: Smalltalk is a 'reflection language' about and written in itself, represented by a bunch of - RAM floating - 'set of activities' - often miscalled 'objects', communicating like a neuronal network with itself and with its programmers, with the possibility to put/freeze that in a single file, called 'image'. Just to make that a bit more transparent, here a (virtual) conversation between a decision maker and a Smalltalk programmer: DM: "Please show me: What have you programmed last years? Where are your libraries? Where's your code contribution?" - "Sorry, there are no libraries! We have source, yes! My code? Somewhere within the spittoon of Smalltalk - code. There are no libraries. They're called 'image'. Can't say, what code i have contributed in the last years." "Ok! And where's our data?" - "Sorry, there is no data!" "But there must be our data somewhere. Experts say and Oracle sais, we need a 'data warehouse'. We will have to put all our data into a central database!" - "Sorry - we have no data, no code - we have 'objects'!" "Ok. I understand. Can you store those 'objects' in Oracle?" - "Hmmm. No! Does not make any sense." "I understand. But all the other programmers say, of course, every programming language is about code and data and state variables!" - "Sorry, no! Smalltalk is a different thing. We even don't have 'states'" "Ok, I see, we have to change to Java or to C++ to get that mismatch solved." - "There is no need to switch to other languages. We are quite productive!" "Ok, maybe. But the board of directors urge me to introduce a central 'data warehouse' on Oracle. Experts say, that's what all companies need nowadays!" - "No need to introduce Oracle. We even can control a whole production plant with Smalltalk! Statistics included. They're done on the fly." "Without central data warehouse? Without Crystal Report, SPSS, Excel?" - "Yes! I can simply code that into Smalltalk" "But the other programmers say: 'Smalltalk is slow!' You even can't control a production plant with one single C++ programm! You need fast 'real time operating systems' and 'real time program language', all experts say that!" - "Yes, Smalltalk is much slower. And Smalltalk is no 'real time system'. But it works fine since many years!" "Hmmm. Sounds very unrealistic! A whole production plant controlled by one pentium processor. Ridiculous! By the way: Does Smalltalk 'scale'? - "Hmmm. No!" "Our controlling sais - They need to do their own statistics on Crystal Report, SPSS, Excel. They want to make nice productivity charts! Can they get their own ODBC - Interface - secured by password - to access data within the 'Smalltalk Image'?" - "Hmmm. No. There is no such interface. But i simply could add some counting variables in Smalltalk." "No, thanx. Our controlling uses sequel! We have paid a lot to teach them how to make nice production charts with Excel, CR, SPSS and POWERPOINT, of course! Now you say, the have to learn 'Smalltalk'? No! They are no programmers! They are controllers! They have to control you! Ok. Conclusion: We probably run into many troubles, if we don't switch to a central data warehouse and a modern progamming language, that 'scales', like JAVA or C++. All experts say - we need central data warehouse, advanced controlling in production, near realtime statistics via ODBC-access, RT-OS. By the way - Can you accellerate Smalltalk code by 'inline assembler', like in C++?" - "Can you accelerate your brain by 'inline assembler'? Does it scale?" "You are fired!" Just my 2ct. Have fun, Guido Stepken --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- -- Benjamin L. Russell -- Benjamin L. Russell / DekuDekuplex at Yahoo dot com http://dekudekuplex.wordpress.com/ Translator/Interpreter / Mobile: +011 81 80-3603-6725 "Furuike ya, kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto." -- Matsuo Basho^

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Replaceing AnObsolete....Class
by Paul DeBruicker 01 Dec '09

01 Dec '09

Hi - In my image I have at least two obsolete classes that are still referenced by some code. They were created when I inadvertently deleted some classes from the image and reinstalled them from a file out of an older image. How can I point the code that is looking for the obsolete classes towards the re-created classes? The re-created classes have the same name as the classes I mistakenly deleted. Thanks Paul

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Beginners December 2009