[squeak-dev] Re: [Esug-list] Google Summer Of Code 2010 news!!!
Paolo Bonzini
bonzini at gnu.org
Sat Mar 6 12:54:05 UTC 2010
> We think that one of the most important reasons why we failed in 2009 is
> that Google was looking for bigger communities that Squeak. This is why
> this year we all go under the ESUG umbrella. We present ESUG as the
> mentor organization and we cover ALL open-source Smalltalk dialects, not
> only Squeak. Pharo, Smalltalk/X, GNU Smalltalk, Cuis..they are all
> invited to participate. Also cross platform projects like Seaside,
> AidaWeb, Magma, etc are welcome.
Here is a list of ideas from me, all more or less involving
cross-dialect pollination. These are based on my preferences, from most
to least preferred
1) GNU Smalltalk includes a refactored version of Swazoo that supports
SCGI and is also faster in general. Start from there and backport the
changes to Squeak/Pharo. Use Seaside's Grease cross-dialect
compatibility layer to get rid of (most of) the Sport dependency.
2) Convert existing cross-platform projects to use Grease. Demonstrate
them using two-three dialects (VW, Squeak, GST). Discuss possible
extensions to Grease and implement them. Document Grease extension
based on the formalism of the ANSI standard.
3) I agreed with the FSF to relicense GNU Smalltalk's file system
classes under MIT license. Port them to at least two other dialects
(Squeak/Pharo count as one). Think of cool ways to use them. Possibly
work out how to integrate them into Grease and make Seaside use them.
4) Build a continuous integration server using Seaside, Iliad or
AidaWeb. Build an interface to version control systems (possibly
supporting both independent systems such as Monticello or file-based
such as svn/CVS/git) that can be used from Smalltalk and integrate it
with Smalllint code reports. For a more ambitious project, the server
should be able to start a new image, upgrade the package, run SUnit
tests there and communicate back the results---the time to upgrade the
package should be minimized of course!
5) Work on a cross-dialect foreign function call interface and implement
it in at least two dialects. Candidates include Alien and GNU
Smalltalk's CObject (using existing implementation has the advantage of
having to implement in only _one_ other dialect!). Bonus points for
implementing a C parser that would be able to construct bindings. GNU
Smalltalk already contains a C preprocessor implementation.
Paolo
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