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[ann] gtdebugger in pharo 5.0
by Tudor Girba Jan. 17, 2016

Jan. 17, 2016

Hi, We are about to integrate in Pharo a new member of the Glamorous Toolkit: the GTDebugger. As this is a significant change that might affect your workflow, here is some background information to help you deal with the change. First, you should know that the change is not irreversible and it is easily possible to disabled the new debugger through a setting. However, please do take the time to provide us feedback if something does not work out for you. We want to know what can be improved and we try to react as fast as we can. A practical change comes from the fact that the variables are manipulated through a GTInspector, which makes it cheaper to maintain in the longer run. While the first thing that will capture the attention is the default generic interface, the real power comes from the moldable nature of the debugger. Like all other GT tools, GTDebugger is also moldable by design. This means that we can construct custom debuggers for specific libraries at small costs (often measured in a couple of hundred lines of code). Here is an introductory overview blog post that also includes some links for further reading: http://www.humane-assessment.com/blog/gtdebugger-in-pharo/ <http://www.humane-assessment.com/blog/gtdebugger-in-pharo/> Please let us know what you think. Cheers, Doru -- www.tudorgirba.com <http://www.tudorgirba.com/> www.feenk.com "Beauty is where we see it."

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Re: [Pharo-dev] [squeak-dev] [Pharo-project] [Vm-dev] Re: Can OSProcess functionality be implemented using FFI instead of plugin?
by Eliot Miranda Jan. 17, 2016

Jan. 17, 2016

On Sun, Jan 17, 2016 at 12:13 PM, stephane ducasse < stephane.ducasse(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > On 17 Jan 2016, at 18:04, Eliot Miranda <eliot.miranda(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > So this year I hope we will have an excellent high performance FFI. > > > this will be an exciting year. > BTW when ronie will arrive here we will plan some skype session with you. > Yes, if we're to pull this off we have all to be working with a coherent shared plan and to keep in communication. This is exciting. I've been dreaming of this FFI for a while now :-). _,,,^..^,,,_ best, Eliot

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Why there is no setting to disable QA?
by stepharo Jan. 17, 2016

Jan. 17, 2016

Hi Why there is no setting for that? Stef

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Re: [Pharo-dev] [squeak-dev] Re: [Pharo-project] [Vm-dev] Re: Can OSProcess functionality be implemented using FFI instead of plugin?
by Eliot Miranda Jan. 17, 2016

Jan. 17, 2016

Hi Levente, > On Jan 17, 2016, at 7:30 AM, Levente Uzonyi <leves(a)caesar.elte.hu> wrote: > >> On Sat, 16 Jan 2016, Eliot Miranda wrote: >> >> On Sat, Jan 16, 2016 at 4:37 PM, Levente Uzonyi <leves(a)caesar.elte.hu> wrote: >> >> On Sat, 16 Jan 2016, Mariano Martinez Peck wrote: >> >> (Still no quote.) >> >> How will you read the output of the process without having your image's process blocked in the FFI callout? >> How will you make sure that writes to input of the process won't block the FFI callout? >> This presupposes the threaded FFI. The threaded FFI allows the VM to make any number of blocking calls, adding a new thread to run the VM whenever the VM is stalled when the heartbeat beats. hence one can freely read and write to/from i/o blocking i/o streams >> (including pipes and sockets) or blocking database connexions, etc, all without stating that the FFI call must be done in a special way, since all calls through the FFI can block without blocking the VM. > > I think it was you who said (in a discussion with Craig) that the threaded FFI was not production ready. Is it ready for produciton now? No, but I expect this is the year it will be. Spur provides pinning, so the VM infrastructure is there. The Pharo community plus some commercial relationships that have developed are providing funding. Esteban Lorenzano and I want to collaborate on this and I hope to get help from some other people, such as Ronie Salgado. And Mariano is working on an important part of the problem. So I feel there's sufficient momentum for us to realize the threaded FFI this year. > Levente _,,,^..^,,,_ (phone) >> Note that the scheme is also amenable to plugins, but the plugins must be rewritten to include the release vm/acquire vm calls around a blocking call. With the threaded VM the FFI includes these calls around every FFI call. >> HTH >> _,,,^..^,,,_ >> best, Eliot

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Unable to read Utf8 ?
by Thierry Goubier Jan. 17, 2016

Jan. 17, 2016

Hi Guys, has something changed in string handling? I'm unable to get the latest Pharo to read files containing utf8 data. I tracked it down to a primitive (at:put:) in WideString and to the latest vm for Pharo 5, so, maybe there is something wrong in the latest vm. Thierry

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Re: [Pharo-dev] [Vm-dev] Where to get Monitor implementation based on primitives?
by Eliot Miranda Jan. 17, 2016

Jan. 17, 2016

Hi Denis, Hi ClÃ©ment, Hi Frank, On Thu, Jan 7, 2016 at 5:34 AM, ClÃ©ment Bera <bera.clement(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hello, > > Eliot, please, you told me you had the code and Denis is interested. > > It uses 3 primitives for performance. > Forgive the delay. I thought it proper to ask permission since the code was written while I was at Qwaq. I'm attaching the code in a fairly raw state, see the attached. The code is MIT, but copyright 3DICC. It is a plugin replacement for Squeak's Mutex, and with a little ingenuity could be a replacement for Squeak's Monitor. It is quicker because it uses three new primitives to manage entering a critical section and setting the owner, exiting the critical section and releasing the owner, and testing if a critical section, entering if the section is unowned. The use of the primitives means fewer block activations and ensure: blocks in entering and exiting the critical section, and that's the actual cause of the speed-up. You can benchmark the code as is. Here are some results on 32-bit Spur, on my 2.2GHz Core i7 {Mutex new. Monitor new. CriticalSection new} collect: [:cs| | n | n := 0. [cs critical: [n := n + 1]. cs critical: [n := n + 1]. cs critical: [n := n + 1]. cs critical: [n := n + 1]. cs critical: [n := n + 1]. cs critical: [n := n - 1]. cs critical: [n := n - 1]. cs critical: [n := n - 1]. cs critical: [n := n - 1]. cs critical: [n := n - 1]. n ] bench] {Mutex new. Monitor new. CriticalSection new} collect: [:cs| | n | n := 0. cs class name, ' -> ', [cs critical: [n := n + 1]. cs critical: [n := n + 1]. cs critical: [n := n + 1]. cs critical: [n := n + 1]. cs critical: [n := n + 1]. cs critical: [n := n - 1]. cs critical: [n := n - 1]. cs critical: [n := n - 1]. cs critical: [n := n - 1]. cs critical: [n := n - 1]. n ] bench] #( 'Mutex -> 440,000 per second. 2.27 microseconds per run.' 'Monitor -> 688,000 per second. 1.45 microseconds per run.' 'CriticalSection -> 1,110,000 per second. 900 nanoseconds per run.') Replacement is probably trivial; rename Mutex to OldMutex, rename CriticalSection to Mutex, recompile. But there are lots of mutexes in the system and these are potentially owned. Transforming unowned ones is trivial, but transforming owned ones is, I think, impossible. But at least in my system there are no owned mutexes or monitors. Frank (or anyone else), would you be interested in creating a replacement for Squeak's Monitor based on CriticalSection? Here are the two business methods: *CriticalSection methods for mutual exclusion* *critical:* aBlock "Evaluate aBlock protected by the receiver." ^self primitiveEnterCriticalSection ifTrue: [aBlock value] ifFalse: [aBlock ensure: [self primitiveExitCriticalSection]] *critical:* aBlock *ifLocked:* lockedBlock "*Answer the evaluation of aBlock protected by the receiver. If it is already in a critical* * section on behalf of some other process answer the evaluation of lockedBlock.*" ^self primitiveTestAndSetOwnershipOfCriticalSection ifNil: [lockedBlock value] ifNotNil:[:alreadyOwner| alreadyOwner ifTrue: [aBlock value] ifFalse: [aBlock ensure: [self primitiveExitCriticalSection]]] and the primitives: *CriticalSection methods for private-primitives* *primitiveEnterCriticalSection* "Primitive. The receiver must be unowned or owned by the current process to proceed. Answer if the process is owned by the current process." <primitive: 186> self primitiveFailed "In the spirit of the following" "[owner ifNil: [owner := Processor activeProcess. ^false]. owner = Processor activeProcess ifTrue: [^true]. self addLast: Processor activeProcess. Processor activeProcess suspend] valueUnpreemptively" *primitiveExitCriticalSection* "Primitive. Set te receiver to unowned and if any processes are waiting on the receiver then proceed the first one, indicating that the receiver is unowned." <primitive: 185> self primitiveFailed "In the spirit of the following" "[owner := nil. self isEmpty ifFalse: [process := self removeFirst. process resume]] valueUnpreemptively" *primitiveTestAndSetOwnershipOfCriticalSection* "Primitive. Attempt to set the ownership of the receiver. If the receiver is unowned set its owningProcess to the activeProcess and answer false. If the receiver is owned by the activeProcess answer true. If the receiver is owned by some other process answer nil." <primitive: 187> self primitiveFail "In the spirit of the following" "[owner ifNil: [owningProcess := Processor activeProcess. ^false]. owner = Processor activeProcess ifTrue: [^true]. ^nil] valueUnpreemptively" 2016-01-07 13:24 GMT+01:00 Denis Kudriashov <dionisiydk(a)gmail.com>: > >> >> Hello. >> >> I hear about new Monitor implementation based on new primitives. >> Where to get it? >> > _,,,^..^,,,_ best, Eliot

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Getting Updated Pharo By Example out the door
by stepharo Jan. 17, 2016

Jan. 17, 2016

Hi guys I will read from start to end the book and we will get it on lulu. I plan to read up to 3 chapters per week. If you want to help for real this is the time. https://ci.inria.fr/pharo-contribution/view/Books/job/UpdatedPharoByExample… I rewrote the chapter on metaclass and a couple of other points because TranslucentColor is not available anymore. I will not rewrite what I do not like (I should now have written in the first place :). So I'm not looking for the perfect solution but to get something done. - First we will host http://www.pharoByExample.org at http://books.pharo.org - Second we will create a new entry for Updated pharo by example and (a new entry for numerical method book too). - Third Read and fix Updated Need a new cover (will ask lusy) -> done Stef

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Running processes at startup vs startUpList, which one first?
by Mariano Martinez Peck Jan. 17, 2016

Jan. 17, 2016

Hi, I have a funny question. Let's say I did: [ something ] fork. and `something` never finishes and does not get GC. And I have a class that I registered in startup list. Which gets done first? the resume of the above process of the processing of the startup list? Thanks! -- Mariano http://marianopeck.wordpress.com

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Re: [Pharo-dev] [Pharo-project] [Vm-dev] Re: Can OSProcess functionality be implemented using FFI instead of plugin?
by Eliot Miranda Jan. 17, 2016

Jan. 17, 2016

On Sat, Jan 16, 2016 at 4:37 PM, Levente Uzonyi <leves(a)caesar.elte.hu> wrote: > > On Sat, 16 Jan 2016, Mariano Martinez Peck wrote: > > (Still no quote.) > > How will you read the output of the process without having your image's > process blocked in the FFI callout? > How will you make sure that writes to input of the process won't block the > FFI callout? This presupposes the threaded FFI. The threaded FFI allows the VM to make any number of blocking calls, adding a new thread to run the VM whenever the VM is stalled when the heartbeat beats. hence one can freely read and write to/from i/o blocking i/o streams (including pipes and sockets) or blocking database connexions, etc, all without stating that the FFI call must be done in a special way, since all calls through the FFI can block without blocking the VM. Note that the scheme is also amenable to plugins, but the plugins must be rewritten to include the release vm/acquire vm calls around a blocking call. With the threaded VM the FFI includes these calls around every FFI call. HTH _,,,^..^,,,_ best, Eliot

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Git repository and branch for spur enable pharo-vm
by Holger Freyther Jan. 16, 2016

Jan. 16, 2016

Hi, what is the official pharo-vm git repository? It looks like github.com/pharo-project/pharo-vm is not being updated right now. It looks like esteban's fork is currently being used and the spur64 branch. Is that correct? Can it it to be used for spur32 and spure64? Is there any plan to merge this back into a repositpory in pharo-project/pharo-vm? kind regards holger

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