Squeak-dev April 2007

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151 participants
201 discussions

[ANN] LazyList version 5
by J J 29 Apr '07

29 Apr '07

Hello all, I recently published a new version of the LazyList package on SqueakSource. New in this release: Changed the name of LazyElement to LazyList to prevent confusion. Added merge method (see below). Added lots of tests (I think all the functionality is pretty well covered). The merge method is the merge step of the merge sort algorithm (given two sorted lists, it efficiently merges them into one sorted list). To give an idea of what one might use it for, I will give my reason for adding it: I use LazyLists to generate recurrence rules for ICal events. The events themselves are allowed to have 0 or more recurrence rules (each generating a potentially endless list of dates). The interface I provide allows the client to specify how many events he would like to consume. But before it was difficult to pull the right amount when there is more then one rule, since the ordering is not predictable (e.g. one rule may return an event for every second and the next one event for every 10th year). Now with the merge function I can simply do: dates := rules first events. rules allButFirst do: [:rule| dates := dates merge: rule events ]. ^ dates take: numberRequested In this way, we never generate more required (well actually there will be one extra from each rule for the sort comparison, but no more), and so long as the events method returns a sorted set the dates returned will be sorted. If anyone uses it and sees any problems let me know. :) Thanks, Jason _________________________________________________________________ MSN is giving away a trip to Vegas to see Elton John. Enter to win today. http://msnconcertcontest.com?icid-nceltontagline

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Pending mac carbon VM 3.8.17b4
by John M McIntosh 29 Apr '07

29 Apr '07

Ok, I've stuck a 3.8.17b4 for testing in the experimental directory via http://www.smalltalkconsulting.com/squeak.html It should fix the issue with large color cursors on macintel and powerpc. Plus I added the change for UTF8 normalization form Tetsuya HAYASHI wanted when the VM is set to use UTF8 file names. I'll note by default the VM info.plist is set to MacRoman for historical reasons and because the mangled filenames that the file list viewer in 3.8 would show and work with in 3.8 images. They would be mangled and show as garbage however the wrong conversion process would convert them back to proper macroman representation on usage. Likely the 3.10 team should review what form file names should be in 3.10? Then ensure what is shows is what the user expects to see? I'll note systems such as Sophie and (I think) Plopp work with UTF8 file names, developers of those system should reconfirm we have not broken their ability to use file names with a 3.8.17b4 VM 3.8.17b4 NSCursorWrappers.m Ensure color works on powerpc, and macintel. Also then for 10.2 signal failure and code then uses small cursor logic sqMacUnixFileInterface.c Tetsuya HAYASHI, tetha(a)st.rim.or.jp, tetha(a)mac.com I've found the latest mac vm (or recent version) fails to normalize UTF file name. It seems to be the function convertChars() of sqMacUnixFileInterface.c, which normalizes only decompose when converting squeak string to unix, but I think it needs pre-combined when unix string to squeak, and I noticed normalization form should be canonical (exactly should be kCFStringNormalizationFormC) for pre-combined. -- ======================================================================== === John M. McIntosh <johnmci(a)smalltalkconsulting.com> Corporate Smalltalk Consulting Ltd. http://www.smalltalkconsulting.com ======================================================================== ===

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Monticello: AnObsoleteClass???
by Michael van der Gulik 29 Apr '07

29 Apr '07

I'm modifying Monticello to store Namespaced packages to a .mcz file. However, I've come across a problem I've never seen before: MessageNotUnderstood: AnObsoleteMCNamespacedStWriter>>visitNamespaceDefinition: Where did that "AnObsolete" part come from, and why isn't my class (MCNamespacedStWriter) being used now that I've fixed the DNU? Is this something peculiar to Squeak, or is Monticello doing some wacky reflection on its own classes? Michael.

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8 core Mac Pro: Squeak and Croquet
by Daniel Lanovaz 29 Apr '07

29 Apr '07

The following are some screenshots of the CPU monitor (one bar per core) running Squeak and Croquet on the latest 8 core Mac Pro. It appears true that Tiger does elicit "core swapping" behavior, the movement of threads between cores as they execute. The performance monitor showed Squeak having two threads, with activity on all 8 cores during normal operation (except during one of the infinite loop tests), where the core activity includes, of course, OS threads for window management, etc. This test was certainly not scientific. With Squeak/Croquet riding atop 24 GHz of 64-bit compute power, plus the muscle of an ATI X1900 GPU, the text editing appears to go smoothly. ;-) The core swapping issue may supposedly be altered in Leopard. There is probably little performance degradation if the thread stays on one quad-core chip with the shared L2 cache, but if the thread moves to another quad-core chip, the (instruction/data) cache contents need to be reloaded on the second chip. The second Squeak infinite loop test appears to show the main Squeak thread moving between two quad-core chips. I purchased this machine for 3D animation rendering. My render software wonderfully takes advantage of all 8 cores, with some impressive performance gains. Cheers, Daniel CPU core usage ============== Squeak GUI activity: http://idisk.mac.com/iphone2007-Public/Squeak/squeak-8-core-01.jpg NOTE: Lots of dragging in a text view. Squeak in an infinite loop: http://idisk.mac.com/iphone2007-Public/Squeak/squeak-8-core- infinite-02.jpg NOTE: Squeak is remaining on 1 core as nothing else happens on the system. Squeak in an infinite loop (switching applications): http://idisk.mac.com/iphone2007-Public/Squeak/squeak-8-core- infinite-03.jpg NOTE: Squeak's infinite loop is moving between cores as I switch between applications. Croquet GUI activity: http://idisk.mac.com/iphone2007-Public/Squeak/croquet.1.0.18-8-core.jpg NOTE: I was just walking around inside a space.

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Monticello 2 question (sort of)
by J J 29 Apr '07

29 Apr '07

Hi all, I was just thinking about Monticello 2 and wondering what the strategy for creating revisions is. In darcs (and afaik all modern revision systems) the way it works is, I have a local repository and there can be any number of remote repositories. So if we had one central repository called e.g. SqueakSource, after the initial push, my local repository is in sync with SqueakSource. I can now make changes and publish them locally. If I push these changes to the SqueakSource repository all the system has to do is see if the revision has not changed, and if it hasn't apply all my change sets to get back in sync and so on. It strikes me that Squeak can do this very easily. We already have change sets that actually seem very good. So we could do the same thing; when I do an initial publish to the central repository I am in sync. Now the system creates a new change set for all changes I do from this point forward. Later on when I try to sync again, if the version number has not changed the system need only apply the change sets I have made since the sync took place. If the version number has changed, a simple conflict resolution can be done. The key point here is; it looks to me like the current Monticello is actually scanning the whole image to find out what has changed. This is not necessary as all that information and more can be retrieved via the existing change set mechanism. The only change would need to be that after you publish to a repository, Monticello needs to rename your "current" change set. If it doesn't then the next time you publish it wont see any change sets that aren't present in the repository and decide no work was done. Or it can look if the dates are different, but then it would have to scan the whole change set to see what is different. It saves processing by simply controlling the change set names. Another advantage is, we can easily have the darcs ability to only apply certain change sets. Using the change set tools in the image I can create new change sets and push different changes into those, so that if I made a big change I can split it up into several different change sets. Then I would have the ability to say e.g. only publish the first one and the last, but skip the middle. What do you all think? Is this already what it's doing and I just didn't notice? Thoughts? Thanks, Jason _________________________________________________________________ Download Messenger. Join the im Initiative. Help make a difference today. http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=TAGHM_APR07

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Enhanced Event Recorder?
by David H. Shanabrook 29 Apr '07

29 Apr '07

Does anyone know about enhancements to event recorder? I found an article describing research (ALAN-K project in Kyoto) to modify event recorder in several ways, most importantly to record the objects manipulated along with the mouse actions. Variable playback time was another enhancement which was already completed. thanks david shanabrook

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[Help] What do people mean when they talk of "overrides"
by Jerome Peace 29 Apr '07

29 Apr '07

[Help] What do people mean when they talk of "overrides" I know this sounds almost like a newbie question. But I have an important reason for asking. When I first came on board "overide" was used in the context of inheritence when a subclass reimplementied a method it would otherwise have inherited. Now in the context of packages and Monticello it seems to mean something quite different. And has come in the context of its new meaning to have become "evil" or at least undesirable. As far as I can make out in the latter context it means one package overiding a Class>>method of another package. In otherwords breaking the critical assumption of packages that each Class>>method appear in one and only one package. I don't have great confidence that I have this completely correct. So can someone clarify the distinction between the two meanings? And maybe suggest a different way of expressing one of them to reduce confusion? Yours in curiosity and service, --Jerome Peace __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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UPDATE on The Weekly Juan #10: "Cheap, High Quality Fonts in Squeak"
by Juan Vuletich 28 Apr '07

28 Apr '07

Hi Folks, Thanks everybody for your comments. I fixed the issues with italics, 16bpp Display and some colored backgrounds. Please try it again. Cheers, Juan Vuletich

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What is the current assessment of 3dot10 Release scope, resources and timeline?
by Jerome Peace 28 Apr '07

28 Apr '07

I tell Edgar that he is doing a hero's work in getting stuff into the image. " You exaggerate." he replies (with exaggerated modesty.) I am now convinced that I indeed have not. He now posts that he has removed etoys and nebraska from squeak. So I know he is trying to do two hero's work. Which for me raises alarms. Hero's work should be spread around and not become the job of one unexaggerated person. So it is time to ask the release team for a reassesment of the scope and time line of their commitment. What do you presently feel can be accomplished by the end of your time box. Or are you contemplating extending the timebox for 3dot10. The time to get to first gear took, to my reckoning, two months rather that the original predicted one. That would imply a reduction of scope of 50%. Instead I see a surge in ambition. What have I missed? Where have my instincts gone wrong? I say this because the thought of two major excisions worries me. Especially when they entail a doubling of the number of unimplemented calls. And implies that there are an even larger number of implemented but uncalled methods in the image. Unimplemented calls are really just a harbinger of the health of the image. It is hard to tell if what you have is a solid image when there are a lot of unexplained unimplemented calls. It also means that the packaging has been done poorly. And that there should be some thought into what has happened. And what has fallen thru the cracks. At the end of 3dot9 Andreas suggested that the releases should be based on what is available and ready for release at the start of the release cycle. By that measure this development seems to me to be coming too soon. It is not ready for release but an experiment that should influence a release further down the line. Maybe 3.11 or 3.12. Friends don't let friends burn themselves out without saying something and this is my plea for thougthfulness and planning. About time and scope and quality. When I am a good programmer, I am slow and methodical. I don't always program that way. The enthusiam of the moment can take over. Yet wards and guards have grown to make me uncomfortable with steps that seem too large or out of sequence. And experience has shown that trouble lurks when I ignore those feelings of discomfort. That is the case now. So I wanted to share those warnings. And ask the 3dot10 team to reassess and recommunicate the scope, resources and timeline of its mission. It would also probably be good to prompt the board to look past the delivery point of 3dot10 and start planning what needs to be planned after that. Yours in curiosity and service, --Jerome Peace __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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debugging Display. need an advice.
by sig 28 Apr '07

28 Apr '07

how can i debug a rountines which responsible for updating portions on the screen? When i simply trying to set a breakpoint on method (like a #forceDamageOnScreen), screen stops drawing/updating anything and i cant see anything, and even cant reverse back to normal drawing.. Im curious , what techniques can be used to debug a DisplayScreen class or its subclasses?

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