On a more...(Inboard Squeak sources)

Bijan Parsia bparsia at email.unc.edu
Tue Mar 3 11:31:04 UTC 1998


At 11:40 PM -0500 3/2/98, Mike Klein wrote:

[snip]

>2) Having to distribute a new changes file with each new revision kind of
>   defeats the purpose of having an unchanging sources file.  Besides,
>   The changes file is almost twice the size of the sources.  Does the
>   changes file contain the source of every released method (including
>   past released versions)?

This is partially a consequence of the "base stuff in flux". That is,
morphic, for example, is in the changes file. Once the morphic core
stabilizes, it could be moved.

Also, just because you don't get *all* the source in one place, doesn't
mean that having *a good chunk of it* in one place, which you don't have to
download, etc. isn't a good thing ;)


[snip]
>
>3) I know that it's easy to change.  But if I do it in my own little world,
>   all of those people who are getting their first take on Smalltalk from
>   Squeak do not benefit.  (I am an experienced Smalltalker, and my first
>   take on Squeak was: "Sheesh... I can't seem to get the line end convention
>   to show all of the methods properly.... what a hassle").

But it doesn't have to be your own little world! You can *distribute* your
world. There's nothing stopping you from producing a "beginner's" image and
posting it to the various ftp sites! In fact, I think including tutorials,
and so forth, in a trivial to run image would be a good thing. (Strip out
everything which isn't prime time for compactness, etc.)

OTOH, I was/am a total Smalltalk novice. It didn't take long to figure out
how things work. The "How Squeak stores source code" doc is quite good.

Cheers,
Bijan Parsia.





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