va smalltalk update - john o'keefe
DESCRIPTION
VA Smalltalk UpdateThis talk will review the Instantiations structural changes of August, 2010 and then delve into VA Smalltalk V8.0, its newly delivered capabilities, and the roadmap for future releases.TRANSCRIPT
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
VA Smalltalk Update
John O’Keefe
Principal Smalltalk Architect
Instantiations, Inc.
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
But first, the rebirth of Instantiations
• Instantiations’ roots are in Smalltalk development tools
• We licensed Smalltalk technology from IBM and grew
• The Smalltalk tools were very good, so we redid them for Java and grew
• and redid them again for Eclipse and grew more
• Google liked the Java tools, so they bought that part of Instantiations
• and Instantiations took the money and went back to its roots
• Instantiations is now positioned to successfully respond to customer requests for a 21st Century VA Smalltalk
• VA Smalltalk...Onward and Upward!
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
Recent Events
• Growing Engineering staff
• Added Donald MacQueen, Principal Smalltalk Engineer
• Looking for more
• University out-reach
• Hasso Plattner Institute Bachelor Project
• Interested in more
• User out-reach
• Conference participation
• VA Smalltalk Forum -> VA Smalltalk Google Group• Will be aggregated on http://forum.world.st
• Existing forum content still available (static)
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
Previous Releases
• V8.0 (May 2009)• Seaside, Tabbed Browsers, Documentation delivery system
• V8.0.1 (November 2009)• Seaside update, ‘cdecl’ calling convention
• V8.0.2 (May 2010)• Seaside update, GLORP
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
VA Smalltalk V8.0.3February 2011
• Web interface
• Seaside support updated to V3.0.2
• Improved WSDL schema import diagnostic
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
VA Smalltalk V8.0.3February 2011
• Web interface
• Seaside support updated to V3.0.2
• Improved WSDL schema import diagnostic
• Graphical User Interface
• CwMultiLineTextPrompter
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CwTextPrompter
• Scrollable, not sizeable
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CwMultiLineTextPrompter
• Sizeable, scrollable
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
VA Smalltalk V8.0.3February 2011
• Web interface
• Seaside support updated to V3.0.2
• Improved WSDL schema import diagnostic
• Graphical User Interface
• CwMultiLineTextPrompter
• Development Tools
• NLS Application Enabler Tool
• NLS Catalog (.CAT) Editor
• Browser performance improvements
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
NLS Application Enabler Tool
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
NLS Application Enabler Tool
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
NLS Application Enabler Tool
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
NLS Catalog (.CAT) Editor
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
NLS Catalog (.CAT) Editor
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
NLS Catalog (.CAT) Editor
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
VA Smalltalk V8.0.3February 2011
• Platform Interface
• TzSpecificLocalTimeToSystemTime PlatformFunction on Windows
• Windows .EXE and .DLL files have function-specific descriptions
• Improved error diagnostics for memory allocation errors• written to log file
• VM Interfaces
• New APIs for string conversion• EsIsString
• EsStringToCString
• EsCStringToString
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
VA Smalltalk V8.0.3February 2011
• Platforms
• Ubuntu 10.10
• Fedora Core 14
• Documentation
• New online documentation• VA Assist
• Widget/Kit Controls
• GF/ST
• Support
• 40+ bug fixes
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
Looking to the Future
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
Future Releases
• Release schedule is about twice a year
• Next release is planned for August 2011
• Current information available in Product Roadmap• http://www.instantiations.com/products/roadmap.html
• Content based on requirements from:
• Direct customer interactions
• Forums
• Support cases
• Internals
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
Priority Technologies
• Internationalization
• Web interface
• Middleware
• GUI Look and Feel
• Development Tools
• Security
• Performance and Scalability
• Platforms
• External Interfaces
• Other
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
Next Release Planned ContentMajor Items
• Internationalization
• Uniform UTF-8 input/output
• Web interface
• Seaside 3.x
• Continuation support
• GUI Look and Feel
• Additional Windows Common Controls• Specific controls TBD (Rebar, Calendar, Task Dialog, etc.)
• Supported at CW, ABT and WB level
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
Next Release Planned ContentMajor Items
• Development Tools
• Improved Changes Browser & Merge Tool
• Code Assist (auto-complete)
• New ‘Settings’ framework
• Other
• Infrastructure• Deprecation exception support
• Logging framework
• Installation• Single installer for Client and Manager
• Seamless with Windows UAC (User Account Control)
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
Next Release Planned ContentOther Items
• Web interface• HTTP chunked transfer encoding
• GUI Look and Feel• TIFF 4
• Middleware• Improved DB2 Stored Procedures
• GLORP improvements
• Security• “Basic” security framework (consolidate existing OpenSSL wrappers)
• External Interfaces• JNIPort
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
Next Release Planned ContentRemoved Items
• Platforms
• Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2000 (all versions)• Microsoft support ended July, 2010
• Support in V8.0.3 and earlier continues on best-can-do basis
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
Future ReleasesCandidate Items
• Internationalization
• Full Unicode/UTF-8 (including VM)
• Web interface
• Seaside 3.x
• SST Servlet multipart forms
• Web services tooling improvements
• Web services debugging tools/doc
• Validating XML parser
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
Future ReleasesCandidate Items
• GUI Look and Feel• GTK+ 2.x on Linux• Additional Windows Common Controls• Additional icon/image support• Backport widgets from add-ons
• Development Tools• Monticello importer• New ‘Settings’ dialog• Consolidate all settings using new ‘Settings’ framework
• Middleware• GLORP infrastructure improvements• GLORP Programmer’s Reference• Active Records built on GLORP• TCP/IP V6
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
Future ReleasesCandidate Items
• Security• “Full” security framework -- OpenSSL 1.0 wrappers
• Performance and Scalability• Incremental garbage collection
• 64-bit Smalltalk
• Class library performance hotspots
• Integrate KES/Stats tool
• Platform• Windows Services control moved to Smalltalk
• External Interfaces• .NET/C#
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Future Releases Candidate Items
• Other
• Installation• Install/Repair/Uninstall
• Class Libraries
• Collection hashing policies
• Collection sorting policies
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How Do You Get VA Smalltalk?
• Download evaluation copy• http://www.instantiations.com/products/vasmalltalk/download.html
• Buy development licenses• http://www.instantiations.com/products/purchase.html
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
How Do You Get VA Smalltalk?
• Download evaluation copy
• Buy development licenses
• Download development build
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
Development Builds
• Started as an experiment in
• Early delivery
• Continuous integration
• Availability
• Announced on VA Smalltalk Forum and comp.lang.smalltalk
• Download from VA Smalltalk website
• Irregular schedule
• Documentation updated to match build
• Windows and Linux only
• Fix-list for build on VA Smalltalk forum
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
How Do I Get VA Smalltalk?
• Download evaluation copy
• Buy development licenses
• Download development build
• Be a committer on an Open Source project
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
Open Source Project Committer
• Instantiations will donate a perpetual VA Smalltalk license
• to committers
• working on non-commercial open source project
• Hint: release something to VAStGoodies.com
• No charge
• Details• http://www.instantiations.com/company/open-source.html
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
How Do I Get VA Smalltalk?
• Download evaluation copy
• Buy development licenses
• Download development build
• Be a committer on an Open Source project
• Be an educational institution
Copyright © 2011, Instantiations, Inc.
Academic Licenses
• Accredited educational institutions
• Teaching staff
• Students
• No charge
• Details• http://www.instantiations.com/products/academic-license-
program.html
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