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[Pharo-project] PhD position funded: Contribution to the design of domain specific languages for robotic applications
by Serge Stinckwich Nov. 18, 2009

Nov. 18, 2009

LIP6, the Computer Science laboratory of the University of Paris 6, is offering a PhD studenship in software engineering for robotics. The student will take part in the PROTEUS (Platform for RObotic models Transformations and Exchange between Users and Scientific communities) project funded by ANR (french research agency) that will start on December 2009 with various partners in France. Candidates need to have a Master degree in computer science. Candidates for this position should have a strong software engineering background and be interested in robotics. Proficiency in written and spoken English is required. Knowledge of French is useful but not required. We will find a description of the PROTEUS project here: http://www.gdr-robotique.fr/archives_update/GT4/01_11_09/1256147659_PROTEUS… You should send your application (CV+ motivation letter) and any inquiry by email to Serge Stinckwich (Serge.Stinckwich(a)gmail.com) and Mikal Ziane (Mikal.Ziane(a)lip6.fr) Please find below a description of the Ph.D. subject in English and French. -------- Ph. D. Thesis title: "Contribution to the design of domain specific languages for robotic applications" Domain-specific languages (DSLs) are emerging as a key component of software engineering. A DSL is a modeling or programming language, dedicated to a particular problem domain, through appropriate notations and abstractions. They are often designed to express the requirements and solutions of a particular domain and has many benefits for developing software. The main purpose of Domain-Specific Modeling languages (DSMLs) is to allow for domain users (that are not programmers usually) to think in terms closer to the problem domain when specifying their systems, by providing a way to model them at the right abstraction level. DSL are already used in the context of embedded systems and the interests for the robotic community is also huge. Robotics system blends software/hardware in a very intrinsic way with a lot of cross-cutting concerns (concurrency, uncertainty, time constraints, ...). Adapting general purpose languages for such a domain often leads to a poor ï¬t between the language features and the implementation requirements. The main aim of PROTEUS project is the design and the implementation of a software development environment for robotics applications. This environment should provide several domain specific languages (DSL) in order to specify the software architecture and the behavior of a robotic system. This language will allow to specify robotic applications without having to specify low-level details including the details regarding the execution platform. This environment through carefully defined transformations will translate this language into an intermediate language. ------- Titre de la thÃ¨se : "Contribution Ã la conception de langages de domaine (Domain Specific Language) pour la robotique" Les langages de domaines (DSL) sont maintenant considÃ©rÃ©s comme une approche importante dans les bonnes pratiques de gÃ©nie logiciel. Un langage de domaine est un langage de programmation ou de modÃ©lisation, dÃ©diÃ© Ã un domaine spÃ©cifique et qui utilisent pour cela des notations ou d'abstractions adaptÃ©es. Ils sont souvent conÃ§us pour exprimer les besoins et les solutions d'un domaine spÃ©cifique et offrent de nombreux bÃ©nÃ©fices pour le dÃ©veloppement de logiciel. Le principal intÃ©rÃªt des DSLs est qu'ils permettent Ã des utilisateurs d'un domaine (qui ne sont gÃ©nÃ©ralement pas des dÃ©veloppeurs) de pouvoir penser en terme proche de leur domaine lorsqu'ils spÃ©cifient leurs systÃ¨mes. Les DSLs sont dÃ©jÃ utilisÃ©s dans le contexte des systÃ¨mes embarquÃ©s et leurs apports dans la communautÃ© robotique semblent Ã©galement prometteurs. Les systÃ¨mes robotiques mÃ¨lent Ã la fois des aspects matÃ©riels et logiciels avec de nombreuses prÃ©occupations spÃ©cifiques (concurrence, incertitude, contraintes temporelles, ...). Adapter des langages classiques Ã un tel domaine ne suffit pas et conduit gÃ©nÃ©ralement Ã une mauvaise adÃ©quation entre les caractÃ©ristiques du langage et les besoins du domaine. Le principal objectif du projet PROTEUS (Plate forme pour la Robotique Organisant les Transferts Entre Utilisateurs et Scientifiques) est la conception et l'implÃ©mentation d'un environnement de dÃ©veloppement pour la rÃ©alisation d'applications robotiques. Cet environnement comprendra un ou plusieurs langage de domaine (domain-specific language, DSL) permettant de spÃ©cifier lâaspect architectural dâune application robotique mais aussi son aspect comportemental dÃ©crivant la partie contrÃ´le et communication. Ce langage devra permettre de spÃ©cifier une application robotique sans avoir Ã prÃ©ciser les dÃ©tails de bas niveau et notamment les dÃ©tails qui dÃ©pendent de la plateforme dâexÃ©cution. Lâenvironnement, grÃ¢ce Ã des transformations soigneusement dÃ©finies, traduira les programmes de ce langage vers un langage intermÃ©diaire indÃ©pendant de la plateforme. -------- Best regards, -- Serge Stinckwich UMI UMMISCO 209 (IRD/UPMC), Hanoi, Vietnam Smalltalkers do: [:it | All with: Class, (And love: it)] http://doesnotunderstand.org/

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[Pharo-project] Socket accepts ipv6 addresses, but can not connect to them
by Bart Gauquie Nov. 17, 2009

Nov. 17, 2009

Dear all, I'm using Pharo1.0rc1 Latest update: #10493, on Windows Vista , runtime 3.11.4. Following test is going fine: SocketTest>>testConnectToLocalhostThroughNetNameResolverAddressForNameLocalhost |serverSocket clientSocket address| serverSocket := Socket newTCP. clientSocket := Socket newTCP. [ serverSocket listenOn: 6665. address := NetNameResolver addressForName: '127.0.0.1' timeout: 20. clientSocket connectTo: address port: 6665] ensure: [ clientSocket close. serverSocket close. ] (connect to a socket on localhost) however, following test: testConnectToLocalhostThroughNetNameResolverLocalHostAddress |serverSocket clientSocket address| serverSocket := Socket newTCP. clientSocket := Socket newTCP. [ serverSocket listenOn: 6665. address := NetNameResolver localHostAddress. clientSocket connectTo: address port: 6665] ensure: [ clientSocket close. serverSocket close. ] is failing with following error: ConnectionTimedOut: Cannot connect to: fe80::6dd3:7860:93c9:46a0%10(PC_xxx),6665(6665) [] in Socket>>connectTo:waitForConnectionFor: Socket>>waitForConnectionFor:ifTimedOut: Socket>>connectTo:waitForConnectionFor: Socket>>connectTo: Socket>>connectTo:port: [] in SocketTest>>testConnectToLocalhostThroughNetNameResolverLocalHostAddress BlockClosure>>ensure: SocketTest>>testConnectToLocalhostThroughNetNameResolverLocalHostAddress SocketTest(TestCase)>>performTest [] in [] in SocketTest(TestCase)>>runCase BlockClosure>>ensure: I understand that the above address is an ipv6 address. (the NetNameResolver localHostAddress lookup returns on my machine a ipv6 address) If i do ipconfig on my machine: Ethernet-adapter LAN-verbinding: Verbindingsspec. DNS-achtervoegsel: lan Link-local IPv6-adres . . . . . . : fe80::6dd3:7860:93c9:46a0%10 IPv4-adres. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.39 Subnetmasker. . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Standaardgateway. . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.138 its the same ipv6 address. Is it normal that the Socket class can not handle ipv6 addresses ? I get a timeoutexception on it (however this happens immediately). Is this the behaviour that i can expect ? The reason i noticed this is that I'm trying Magma, the server in a separate image but on the same machine, under ubuntu 9.10 everything worked fine, under Windows Vista it crashed, since internally it also uses NetNameResolver localHostAddress to connect to 'localhost', and i got the same connect timeout exception. In attachment, a fileout of the SocketTest (had to create a new testclass for this :-( ) Kind regards, Bart -- imagination is more important than knowledge - Albert Einstein Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere - Albert Einstein Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning. - Albert Einstein The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. - Albert Einstein Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love. - Albert Einstein

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[Pharo-project] SystemVersion 1.0 and 1.1
by Michael Roberts Nov. 17, 2009

Nov. 17, 2009

Please review these changes for 1.0 & 1.1 branches. This currently only bootstraps better version strings. After this I have some class changes and deprecations for 1.1 (only). =1.0 branch= http://code.google.com/p/pharo/issues/detail?id=1446 In the inbox is a template update: Name: ScriptLoader-MikeRoberts.1134 Author: MikeRoberts Ancestors: ScriptLoader-AdrianLienhard.1133 =1.1 branch= http://code.google.com/p/pharo/issues/detail?id=1447 In the inbox is a template update: Name: ScriptLoader11-MikeRoberts.54 Author: MikeRoberts Ancestors: ScriptLoader11-StephaneDucasse.53 === This just sets the system version in both branches. Note that the two update lists must be updated immediately afterwards. This has the ability to break the update stream so please review carefully! thanks, Mike

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[Pharo-project] Pharo 1.0 RC1 feedback.
by Michael van der Gulik Nov. 17, 2009

Nov. 17, 2009

Hi. Here's some feedback for Pharo. I've been using Squeak 3.10, but because I want to use the NewCompiler, I'm going to move development of SecureSqueak to Pharo. I go to http://pharo.org/. Woops. He he. I find my way to the Pharo home page. Getting Pharo up and running could be a lot easier; I'm using Ubuntu Linux, and I got it up and running quickly because I've a fairly experienced Squeak developer. If I was less familiar with image files and VMs, I would be lost and probably give up. I recommend making the release for each platform one large .zip file containing the images, sources and VM. This will reduce confusion, and if you put the executable in the root directory of the zip file, most people will easily be able to work it out. The VM has a README file - good, but it assumes a lot of experience from the user. Again, if I was not a programmer, I'd be lost. The image zip file has a lot of extra stuff in it (fonts?) and no README file. I start up the VM - I get a white window, the Pharo logo and that's it. I'm able to just jump in and start using this because I'm familiar with Squeak, but if I was a new user to Pharo, this would be rather intimidating. I recommend having a workspace with nicely formatted fonts saying "Welcome to Pharo, go read Pharo by Example". The project menu / desktop menu / whatever menu that comes up is badly formatted. The last four items ("Save", "Save As", "Save and quit" and "Quit") have icons and more spacing between them than the items above them. The vertical size of each menu item should be constant. Menu entries still use the small font that Squeak uses, making them hard to click on (for fumble-fingers like me). The menu structure is a vast improvement over Squeak! I open up a browser. It looks nice, but I can't understand the red/yellow/green buttons in the top left corner. What are they meant to be? The tooltips help, but I find it odd to use coloured buttons. I use a slowish Celeron-based computer (if you could call 1.6 BILLION operations per second slow!). The whole environment feels a bit sluggish. I spend some time in the preferences and manage to make it a bit more reactive by disabling some eye-candy. I come across a dialog: "Changes have not been saved, bla bla". The dialog is odd; it needs the attention of a graphic designer. It has a text entry box in it for no reason? I make a class and begin typing in its comment; I get continuous annoying drop-down lists which aren't relevant for documentation. The text is badly lagged; I count 5 seconds before what I type appears on the screen. I get a dialog asking me for my full name (nice! Much better than initials). The text in the dialog is badly aligned and not word-wrapped correctly. Text should be left-aligned or fully justified, unless it's Right-to-Left text. Also, use real right-arrows! Pharo supports Unicode! The dialog did not appear until after I had already made three classes - surely it should ask for my name as soon as I start making any source changes to the system? I type in some code. The auto-drop-down thing keeps guessing what I'm typing, even when I'm typing comments. It is starting to annoy me. Some more time disabling preferences seems to fix this. I think that's enough for now. The new user experience needs to be worked on, in particular by making the downloading and setting up more intuitive, and by having a welcome message when the image is started. Perhaps the auto-completion stuff works better on faster computers. The environment is a lot better after disabling it. Gulik. -- http://gulik.pbwiki.com/

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[Pharo-project] Pharo Sprint this Saturday in Buenos Aires
by Alexandre Bergel Nov. 17, 2009

Nov. 17, 2009

Dear List, This is a remainder for the sprint that will take place this Saturday. Please subscribe to if you wish to register: http://code.google.com/p/pharo/wiki/PharoSprints Beside your name, feel free to add suggestions. Cheers, Alexandre -- _,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;: Alexandre Bergel http://www.bergel.eu ^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;.

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[Pharo-project] Pharo 1.0 RC1 feedback.
by Torsten Bergmann Nov. 17, 2009

Nov. 17, 2009

Michael van der Gulik wrote: >The new user experience needs to be worked >on, in particular by making the downloading and setting up >more intuitive, and by having a welcome message when the >image is started. Hi Michael, nice to see you here too. Pharo has (similar to Squeak) an open process to contribute and will depend on its contributors. So feel free to help making the download and first time user experience better. A start could be to continue working on the welcome workspace, so Damien is able to integrate it. There is already a wiki page to collect ideas: http://code.google.com/p/pharo/wiki/GettingStartedWorkspaces I also opened two new issues: http://code.google.com/p/pharo/issues/detail?id=1455 http://code.google.com/p/pharo/issues/detail?id=1454 Thx Torsten -- Jetzt kostenlos herunterladen: Internet Explorer 8 und Mozilla Firefox 3.5 - sicherer, schneller und einfacher! http://portal.gmx.net/de/go/atbrowser

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[Pharo-project] simulating morphic events
by Tudor Girba Nov. 17, 2009

Nov. 17, 2009

Hi, I would like to simulate Morphic events, like mouseUp, but I cannot figure out the complete setup. Here is the code I have so far: | mouseUp morph | morph := self scroller submorphs first. mouseUp := MouseButtonEvent basicNew setType: #mouseUp position: (morph bounds origin + (1@1)) which: 4 buttons: 7 hand: (HandMorph new mouseFocus: morph; yourself) stamp: Time millisecondClockValue. morph handleMouseUp: mouseUp. At this moment it looks like the problem is that the eventHandler in the morph is nil. Can anyone point me into the right direction? Cheers, Doru -- www.tudorgirba.com "Yesterday is a fact. Tomorrow is a possibility. Today is a challenge."

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[Pharo-project] Spreading the word about Pharo
by csrabak＠bol.com.br Nov. 16, 2009

Nov. 16, 2009

Do you think it is time to ask maintainers of pages about Smalltalk, like http://www.engin.umd.umich.edu/CIS/course.des/cis400/smalltalk/smalltalk.ht… to include Pharo be it as an entry or at least a link? -- Cesar Rabak

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[Pharo-project] ImageReadWriter class>>formFromStream:
by Schwab,Wilhelm K Nov. 16, 2009

Nov. 16, 2009

Hello all, I have a crude example of something I want to do with gnuplot, and started looking at reading images from binary streams. Looking at ImageReadWriter class>>formFromStream:, I see things I do not like, but I am not sure how to fix them. First, on a failure to find a matching reader, it sends #close to the stream. I don't think that is its job, or if nothing else, there should be a #formFromStream:onError: block that would allow overrides of that behavior. Second, it uses #reset to go back up to allow the selected reader to have a fresh start after it assumes responsibility for reading the format. #position: would be a better choice, to return to the position at the start of the method (not necessarily the beginning of the stream). If a positionable stream is too much to ask, then the code should be changed to allow the read to pick up where the format test left off. Another option would be to use something that I built in Dolphin a while back: it puts a wrapper around a stream to absorb a #reset (I had the same problem) and then delegates to the "real" stream from the point it left off. In my current situation, I should be able to get away with hard-coding the reader class. Bill

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[Pharo-project] MailMessage
by Schwab,Wilhelm K Nov. 16, 2009

Nov. 16, 2009

Hello all, I am looking for a way to format text in email. Html comes to mind (yes, I hate those emails too, but it would work and the recipients don't know any better<g>), as does attaching a file with the data. I recently had to switch smtp servers, and for whatever reason, can no longer send html email. The server says it accepted it, but the mail is never delivered; send plain text through it, and it works. It could simply be that the server wants no part of html email, but it would be nice to repeat the test with another client, and/or try attachments as a solution to my problem. I found MailMessage, and could not figure out how to set the recipient. After some searching, I found 151 on Mantis; it is a five year old fix from Frank Shearer for adding recipients. If I had to guess, things are still broken, but I will try it and see what happens. Sending this now while I'm thinking about it. If anybody knows a way around my current problems, please don't feel that you would be cheating me out of the fun of solving it myself :) Bill

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