[UPDATES] 30 new updates for 2.8alpha

Bruce ONeel beoneel at mindspring.com
Mon Feb 7 11:38:38 UTC 2000


Hi,
  The 2.8a image/change combo I keep is now updated on the FTP site at
<ftp://st.cs.uiuc.edu/Smalltalk/Squeak/2.7/files/Squeak2.8a-beo.zip>

Note that it's now a .zip file rather than a .tar.gz.

cheers

bruce

Dan Ingalls <Dan.Ingalls at disney.com> wrote:
> Folks -
> 
> I have just posted a spate of updates for 2.8alpha, most of them from Squeak Central.  There's a lot of good stuff here, most of which will be obvious from the summaries.  There is also a complete Foreign Function Interface package not described here, but with a number of useful examples in the updates.
> 
> We will shortly release a bunch more updates incorporating various fixes and enhancements culled from the Squeak mailing list.  I am most grateful to Stefan Matthias Aust for having agreed to help for a while with this culling and merging process.
> 
> Enjoy
> 	- Dan
> 
> Here follow the summaries for the latest updates...
> -------------------------
> 1790pointSize-sw -- Scott Wallace -- 19 January 2000
> Switches to pointSize rather than height as the primary number to use to characterize a font in various menus and description windows.
> Removes the extra number that formerly showed in font-size menus for certain fonts."
> 
> 1791methodPrint-sw -- Scott Wallace -- 19 January 2000
> Makes the pretty-print options for source-code viewing work in stand-alone method panes."
> 
> 1792prefRework-sw -- Scott Wallace -- 20 January 2000
> Another turn of the crank regarding Preferences.
> *	A new preferences panel, in which preferences are factored into categories, is offered.  Checkboxes are used to represent the state, rather than textual 'true' & 'false'
> *  Several preferences that were hard to locate alphabetically because their names started with common verbs such as 'show' and 'allow' and 'use', etc., are renamed, as are some of those with unusually oblique or awkward names, such as 'disableSounds' and 'allowLabelDragging'
> *	Category information for preferences is contained in the methods in category 'initial values' of class Preferences; each preference can belong to multiple categories.
> *	If a new preference is introduced to the system casually by a #enable: or #disable: call, without accompanying additions or changes to the 'initial values' category of Preferences class, it will show up in the new preferences panel in a tab labeled 'uncategorized'"
> 
> 1793debugHandleFix-sw -- Scott Wallace -- 19 January 2000
> Fixes a glitch in update 1792 relating to the debug handle."
> 
> 1794imgSeg-tkMV -- Ted Kaehler -- 15 January 2000
> Search outPointers for methods and contexts.  Put them into the roots.  Nil out any remaining outpointers that are contexts."
> 
> 1795charSrtRfStrm-tkMW -- Ted Kaehler -- 17 January 2000
> DataStreams need to return existing Characters in target system, not new instances of class Character."
> 
> 1796exportFixes-tkMX -- Ted Kaehler -- 20 January 2000
> ImageSegments keep track of how many roots were supplied by the user, and only return those (in the original order). You ask it with the message 'originalRoots'.
> 
> 1797nixWorldAutoViewing-sw -- Scott Wallace -- 24 January 2000
> Don't offer the 'automatic viewing' item in a playfield-options menu presented on behalf of the World"
> 
> 1798endian-tkMY -- Ted Kaehler -- 22 January 2000
> In memory caching for short files is removed.  (Only add it back if it is shown to go faster.)
> WordArrays:  Always written in machine independent (Macintosh LSB) form.  Byte-switched just before writing and just after reading.  Written at full disk speed.
> New class WordArrayForSegment that does not swap byte orders -- used for the segment inst var in an ImageSegment.  (The segment load primitive does its own swapping.  On MSB machines, segment would get swapped twice.)
>  Also, detect when a segment contains a block whose receiver has been reshaped.  Warn the user that the method may have an error or crash."
> 
> 1799vmSupportCode-jm -- John Maloney -- 27 January 2000
> Update the VM support code built into the image.
> Updated compareWithFilesInFolder: to include sqVirtualMachine.h and .c.
> Support code changes relevant to all platforms include:
>   sqPlatformSpecific.h -- minor tweak to support WinCE
>   sqFilePrims.c -- Support for 'sandbox' when running a web browser plugin.
>     The function plugInAllowAccessToFilePath() must be implemented to return true
>     if you use sqFilePrims.c.
>   Entry points were added to sqMacExternalPrims.c to support the upcoming
>     Foreign Function Interface; other platforms should add the new functions.
> Changes relevant only to the Mac included:
>   sqMacDirectory.c	-- support for 'sandbox'
>   sqMacNetwork.c	-- better error handling
>   sqMacSound.c		-- play silence if Squeak fails to fill a buffer in time
>   sqMacWindow.c	-- changes to support browser plugins and reduce footprint
> 
> 1800FFIBaseClasses -- Andreas Raab -- 6 December 1999
> This change set contains the Smalltalk side of the foreign function interface."
> Smalltalk at: #FFIConstants ifAbsentPut:[Dictionary new].
> 
> 1801FFI-Plugin
> 
> 1802FFI-Examples-MacOS
> 
> 1803FFI-Examples-Win32
> 
> 1804FFI-Examples-X11
> 
> 1805chgSorterMisc-sw -- Scott Wallace -- 28 January 2000
> 1.  In a change-sorter, after a 'copy all to other side', no longer advance the current selection to the next changeset.  This was formerly useful, before the submerge-into-other-side feature, but now gets in the way more often than not.
> 2.  Add item to ChangeSorter's shifted menu allowing a given change set to be promoted so that it appears at the top of the list.
> 3.  Reorder the ChangeSorter's shifted menu so that it no longer intermixes the ancient and anomalous item which does not relate to the currently-selected changeset with the rest that do."
> 
> 1806miscTweaks-sw -- Scott Wallace -- 29 January 2000
> 1.	Assures that #modelWakeUp is sent to the top morphic window's model after a snapshot-and-continue (formerly, it was only dispatched when actually resuming from a saved image.).
> 2.	Bulletproof in Morph.referencePlayfield against possible nil parent.
> 3.	Even if auto-viewing is in effect for a particular playfield, don't do it for objects that don't want it.
> 4.	With this change, the disabling of world-side autoviewing, done in update 1797, is rescinded.
> 5.	The thumbnail-drawing code is modified to avoid recursion problems relating to flap tabs and thumbnailing of worlds.
> 6.	The default name for a playfield functioning as a world is now 'world' rather than Playfield; this is useful in viewers, halos, and inspectors open on a world."
> 
> 1807haloRework-sw -- Scott Wallace -- 28 January 2000
> A substantial reworking of morphic halos.
> *   A variety of changes to address the problem of getting the halo for the right object.  Successive cmd-clicks now march the haloee inward one level per click, but always skipping unlikely layers, and never crossing a window boundary.  Successive cmd-shift-clicks start at the innermost  morph and work their way outward, hitting every layer. 
> *	Actual halo placements are now parameterized, so that there is a straightforward way that individual users can rearrange the locations and indeed the presence/absense of their halos.
> *	Four alternative halo schemes are offered, including, as the new default, graphical designs courtesy of Bert Freudenberg and David Smith, and with code contributions from Bert.
> *	For SketchMorphs, there is now a 'forward direction' arrow available which allows setting of the forward direction and also of the center-of-rotation.
> *  Adds an alternative 'simple' form of halos for youngest users.
> *  A reworking of the preferences involving halos.
> 
> 1808wndHalos-sw -- Scott Wallace -- 29 January 2000
> A first cut at reenfranchising halos in wonderland"
> 
> 1809paintArea-sw -- Scott Wallace -- 1 February 2000
> Makes the default paint area for a new painting be larger.  The memory-saving heuristic now only really kicks in if you have a huge playfield."
> 
> 1810AEScriptFix -- Andreas Raab -- 1 February 2000
> Fixes an annoying problem with Applescript startup on non-Macs."
> 
> 1811ifNilCompiled-ACG -- Andrew Greenberg -- 28 January 2000
> This changeSet causes the Squeak compiler to compile the messages
> 	ifNil: ifNil:ifNotNil: ifNotNil: ifNotNil:ifNil:
> inline.  The downside is that, as with ifTrue:ifFalse, you can no longer change their definitions, nor can you easily search for their senders.  The upside is that these patterns now run three to eight times faster.  Not only that, but the improved code generation saves more space than the entire size of this change set.
> The postscript recompiles all occurrences take advantage of this enhanced compactness and performance.
> 
> 1812HandMorph-openMenu
> 
> 1813Project-thumbnailFromUrl
> 
> 1814MiscFixes-ar -- Andreas Raab -- 4 February 2000
> Fixes to different problems.
> * Make DisplayObject #follow:while:bitsBehind:startingLoc: use deferred display updates
> * Fixes computations of pixel ramps in gradient fill styles
> * Fixes an order problem in the execution of flash actions.
> * Makes FlashPlayers keep their aspect ratio."
> 
> 1815SystemDictionary-version
> 
> 1816FasterWho-di -- Dan Ingalls -- 4 February 2000
> A reimplementation of CompiledMethod>>who, that runs over four times faster.
> 
> 1817soundBuf-tkMZ -- Ted Kaehler -- 4 February 2000
> Allow SoundBuffer instances to be filed out by SmartRefStreams and ImageSegments and be read on opposite endian machines.
> Also, Bob Arning's fix to the 'explain' feature in ChangeSorters.  Thanks, Bob!  And thanks to Randy Schwartz for discovering the problem."
> 
> 1818ifNilDecompiled-DI -- Dan Ingalls -- 29 January 2000
> This change set extends the decompiler to properly decompile all code generated by ifNil constructs.
> 
> 1819BetterDoLoopDecomp-DI -- Dan Ingalls -- 6 February 2000
> Provides better decompilation of do-loops by converting the pattern
> 		limitVar _ limitExpr.
> 		startExpr to: limitVar do: [:var | ...statements...]
> 	to
> 		startExpr to: limitExpr do: [:var | ...statements...]





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