I have been trying to learn Etoys, Squeak, and Smalltalk, and finding it heavy going. After considerable exploration, I have found Squeak by Example, Programming in GNU Smalltalk, OLPCEtoys, and the Etoys Reference Manual (FLOSS Manuals). So now I have seen, but not fully understood, how to create objects and methods; various development tools, viewers, inspectors, and so on; and some of the structure of various Smalltalk-based systems, particularly Morphic.
With what I know now, plus my knowledge of other programming languages, I can see a path to understanding most of command-line Smalltalk and graphical Squeak development. But so far, I do not see how to do Etoys development. Bert Freudenberg clarified several questions for me yesterday: Many Etoys projects were built in Squeak, not in Etoys at all. Fine. So then what makes a Squeak construct suitable to be made into an Etoys project, and how do you put it into the library? Smalltalk was meant to be taught by experienced teachers, not discovered by students. Fine. But how do the teachers learn it?
I found out about the keyboard shortcuts in Etoys by reading the incomplete draft Etoys Reference Manual at
http://en.flossmanuals.net/etoys-reference-manual/
They are in the User Interface Chapter. So now I know how to open a System Browser and a Workspace from Etoys, and how to get at everything that is on various menus. Unfortunately, this draft manual does not give the shortcuts for Linux, just for Mac and Windows. Also, there appear to be serious errors and omissions in the tables and lists. I have not found out how to open a World Menu. Also, every time I try to open an Event Theater in Etoys on Ubuntu, Etoys crashes. (Etoys for Sugar on Ubuntu won't even open properly. I'll have to try Fedora in VirtualBox.)
I will have many more questions in coming days.
Hi Edward,
On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 3:46 PM, you wrote:
Many Etoys projects were built in Squeak, not in Etoys at all. Fine. So then what makes a Squeak construct suitable to be made into an Etoys project, and how do you put it into the library? Smalltalk was meant to be taught by experienced teachers, not discovered by students. Fine. But how do the teachers learn it?
Lots of questions there. Here are some resources you might not have seen yet, that may help:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUxMP46PM-I (demo by Bert at Squeakfest 2010)
squeakland@lists.squeakfoundation.org