> Squeak 5.3 release notes describe arithmetic improvements.�� Nice.�� I crunch very big numbers, and these improvements therefore have value.�� Why would they not be included in OSVM (forked or not) and the basic class-set for both Squeak and Pharo?

The VM changes *are* in the VM code. If pharo haven't bothered to take advantage of them, that's their job to do. There are also image changes involved. Again, somebody has to do the work.

>�� The obvious question is:�� Will Squeak be improving GUI look/behavior and speed with Spec2?�� If not, can I load Spec2 into Squeak so that I can do new GUI work there?

Unlikely and unlikely.

>��

> Both Squeak and Pharo have slow text selection.�� Pick any word in any pane, and double click it to select it.

Really? I can't detect any difference. And that's with the Squeak running on a Pi and VW on a big iMac.

Yeah, it���s bad, and I often wonder why no one says anything about it.�� It definitely slows my work, and I���m not talking about the extra time for rendering.�� It���s mentally disruptive.����

It mostly depends on how you detect a double-click as opposed to a single, or a mouse-down-drag etc.

I go by the definition of a double click:�� the button-up event of the second click ends the double-click event.�� Searching for and rendering of the selected text then begins.�� This takes roughly 75 to 100 ms consistently in Pharo and Squeak.

> (Dolphin and VW have quick GUIs).��

Never used Dolphin but I disagree about the (currnet)VW GUI; I'm using both for work right now and Squeak (again, on a Pi vs the VW/iMac) seems much faster to me.

Note that I was specific about the current porting problem as it relates to GUI deficiencies.�� The problem is not about general GUI speed (like opening and closing windows), which is okay to good in VW, and better overall in Pharo, especially in a Spec2 component (the Launcher).�� This problem is about text selection speed. ����I���m running Windows 10 Pro on an 2.7 GHz Xeon with 96 GB.��

I just tried text selection again in Pharo 9 in a Playground and in VW 8.3.2���s Transcript.�� VW is much faster. ��This is stopping my port--that and the debugger���s slowness (even slower than the text selection).���� The porting problem for me reduces to two little, but extremely important GUI dynamics I experience frequently when coding.

> Is speeding up the Pharo debugger with Spec2 a priority?�� I can���t think of a better GUI-related priority for Pharo.

Why ask that here?

(I thought I was posting to the Pharo lists too; corrected above.)

Font importer. It's right there in the Apps list, second row.

Yes, I found it.

>��

> - Where in the Squeak and Pharo images can I change mouse-selection behavior to be leading-edge?�� Some of the Squeak panes have this; others don���t.�� I want leading-edge action in all panes, and wish the feature were in Preferences/Settings.

As a general UI point, leading edge action is rarely a good thing.

I use leading edge single clicks all the time for most of the last 25 years of Smalltalk coding.�� The choice is for me as dev, not for clients.�� The issue is once again about high-speed continuity of gesture and thought during coding.�� Eliminating the delay matters.�� I���ve had time to try it both ways.

Shaping