October 2016 - Pharo-users - lists.pharo.org

Re: [Pharo-users] The Ultimate Smalltalk Tutorial

by Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas

Thanks Ben. Hopefully this experiences will find broader context to be talked about (may be TED, but also ESUG and others). Cheers, Offray On 27/10/16 12:00, Ben Coman wrote: > > > On Thu, Oct 27, 2016 at 11:40 PM, Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas > <offray.luna(a)mutabit.com <mailto:offray.luna@mutabit.com>> wrote: > > > [2] http://mutabit.com/offray/blog/en/entry/dumb-hello-world > <http://mutabit.com/offray/blog/en/entry/dumb-hello-world> > > > Great article. For some reason I get the idea that mixing it with > your Data Week experiences would make a great TED talk. > > cheers -ben >

Oct. 27, 2016

Pharo contribution Jenkins broken?

by Johan Fabry

Hi all, it seems that something is wrong with https://ci.inria.fr/pharo-contribution/ Itâs failing a bunch of jobs with by running no tests, e.g. https://ci.inria.fr/pharo-contribution/job/LiveRobotProgramming/ Can this be fixed please? -- Does this mail seem too brief? Sorry for that, I donât mean to be rude! Please see http://emailcharter.org . Johan Fabry - http://pleiad.cl/~jfabry PLEIAD and RyCh labs - Computer Science Department (DCC) - University of Chile

Oct. 27, 2016

Re: [Pharo-users] The Ultimate Smalltalk Tutorial

by Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas

Dimitris, Ben and Phil, Thanks for your interest in Grafoscopio. I need to solve the issue with installation at least on Pharo 5. I don't know what is working wrong and need to understand better the ConfigurationOf stuff. Once I have it (soon) I will be back with news about installing or questions about what is not working. Cheers, Offray On 27/10/16 12:01, Dimitris Chloupis wrote: > Absolutely , I am enjoying calling the way I work "parasitic coding" > mainly because I love to use/ take advantage/canibalize existing > libraries, languages and applications. > > Grafoscopio, Pillar, existing ProfStef, Morphic , whatever can help me > open a link in a web browser and anything else will be on my plate. > Working together is doable too. > > Unfortunately I cannot load your project in Pharo 6 > it complains when I use Gofer about an out of bounds problem, if I use > monticello at Loading ConfigurationOfGlamourCore-PabloTesone.152 gives > error about a missing quote. > > PRDocumentItemTest methodsFor: 'tests' stamp: 'lr 3/30Unmatched ' in > string literal. -> > > Grafoscopio is very good and thanks for reminding me I have completely > forgotten it , which means I will need to take a good look to see what > else is out there I can use. > > GUI wise, its quite different from what I imagined for my project so > at least that part I will have do , feature wise though it seems like > you covered many of my goals indeed though I will give a lot more > close look in a few and in the near future. > > On Thu, Oct 27, 2016 at 6:44 PM Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas > <offray.luna(a)mutabit.com <mailto:offray.luna@mutabit.com>> wrote: > > Hi Dimitris, > > Goals 1 to 6 overlap with the ones Grafoscopio. Could you test it > please to see if we can work together in some way or Grafoscopio > could work as a foundation for your work? In that way we could > break the lonely developer reality for this one. > > Cheers, > > Offray > > > On 27/10/16 09:00, Dimitris Chloupis wrote: >> I decided to make a new version for ProfStef released under then >> name "Pharo Live Tutorial". >> >> My goals are to: >> 1) add to it a history panel, so the user can navigate to the >> part he wants. >> 2) group parts into chapters to make progress more clear >> 3) break some parts to smaller parts to ensure smooth learning curve >> 4) add it to the help section of the world menu , so it is far >> more visible to the user >> 5) link parts to relevant chapter and section of PBE5 (or any >> other relevant book), so the user can easily access more detailed >> info in case he wants to. >> 6) Design the tool so it can accommodate multiple tutorials, each >> having its own chapters and parts >> 7) Design a GUI to navigate to tutorials >> 8) Integrate it with GTSpotter so the user can easily find the >> information he or she wants >> 9) Integrate small challenge games to help the user test what he >> learned and have fun at the same time, with ability to be awarded >> with a score in terms of "levels" and of course badges for >> achievements ;) >> 10) Provide an integrated blog (nothing fancy, just text) , for >> latest news about pharo , this blog will be basically copying >> some of my blog posts , to show to users that we are alive and >> kicking and not just an almost dead project and of course >> advertise the hard work of many of my fellow guardians of the light. >> >> PS: obviously references to Stef will remain and he will be >> credited as author of the tutorial >> >> Can't promise when it will be ready and can't promise first >> version will include all the above but this is the direction I >> want to go with this. This live interactive tutorial will >> replace my video tutorials since they are too hard to keep updated. >> >> >> On Thu, Oct 27, 2016 at 3:04 PM Vitor Medina Cruz >> <vitormcruz(a)gmail.com <mailto:vitormcruz@gmail.com>> wrote: >> >> *stepharo:* >> >> Why not pushing/improving >> >> either >> UPBE >> ProfStef >> With the Mooc Counter example: In TWO >> MINUTES people get something DONE a simple counter. >> What else can it be. >> >> >> I run the following experience during my lecture. I give >> 1 hour presentation about pharo / vision / sneakpeek and >> ask them to watch the counter >> video and redo it and it works! >> >> >> Indeed, you can. My opinion was in the lines of improving >> Profstef :) >> >> Mooc may be good in a class with a teacher for the student to >> take doubts, but I find a little confusing for someone that >> finds it by its own in pharo.org <http://pharo.org>. >> >> I have some friends on the field, some are overseas (I am in >> Brazil) and when the opportunity comes I talk about Smalltalk >> and Pharo and how good it is, then: >> >> 1- Some get interested and asks for reference, I usually >> point to the Proftef, the site and the PBE; >> 2- Some are interested and we are close so I can I explain >> something myself and show the environment, maybe pairing; >> 3- Sometimes someone got interested and went to the pharo.org >> <http://pharo.org> by itself and I know of that only afterwards. >> >> In every situation people got confused :( >> >> The best time was 2, because I could explain better what was >> going on, but usually people try by itself, and that don't >> went well. For example, some report to me that had made the >> exercise from PBE and got really confused in the end: what >> was that I was doing? Where are my classes again? Workspace? >> Where is the code again? What happened? >> >> I think it is hard for someone that already internalize the >> concept of image and self contained environment to understand >> why this confusion is happening, but when you come to think >> about it that is not so strange because people are used to >> files and all those crap static stuff, so it is kind of a >> huge paradigm shift learning Pharo: it *is* confusing for them. >> >> But it seems to me that you are focusing more on fresh >> people, been teach on classrooms and such, right now. That >> may be good, I am not sure if people already in the industry >> can be cooped in enough size to be able to improve Pharo >> community and use. >> >> On Thu, Oct 27, 2016 at 9:21 AM, stepharo <stepharo(a)free.fr >> <mailto:stepharo@free.fr>> wrote: >> >> funnily dale I read it like you wish :) >> >> >> >> Le 26/10/16 Ã 21:53, Dale Henrichs a Ã©crit : >>> >>> >>> >>> On 10/26/16 12:13 PM, Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> Hi, >>>> >>>> On the issue of contributing to Free, Libre, Open >>>> Source Software (FLOSS) projects, I have been reading >>>> recently Nadia Eghbal and her analysis that confirm >>>> that most FLOSS projects are done by individuals and >>>> small teams, which is contrary to the bazaar narrative. >>>> This comic shows the point: >>>> >>>> and you can find more details here: >>>> https://medium.com/@nayafia/what-success-really-looks-like-in-open-source-2… >>>> >>> After skimming the actual article and finding that the >>> points made in the article are valid I would have wished >>> that the right panel in the cartoon had said "one more >>> pull request before going to bed" since that is closer >>> to what the article is about ... an active, community >>> that contributes is also an important component and >>> something that Pharo/Smalltalk community does indeed have. >>> >>> Dale >> >> >

Oct. 27, 2016

Re: [Pharo-users] The Ultimate Smalltalk Tutorial

by Dimitris Chloupis

Absolutely , I am enjoying calling the way I work "parasitic coding" mainly because I love to use/ take advantage/canibalize existing libraries, languages and applications. Grafoscopio, Pillar, existing ProfStef, Morphic , whatever can help me open a link in a web browser and anything else will be on my plate. Working together is doable too. Unfortunately I cannot load your project in Pharo 6 it complains when I use Gofer about an out of bounds problem, if I use monticello at Loading ConfigurationOfGlamourCore-PabloTesone.152 gives error about a missing quote. PRDocumentItemTest methodsFor: 'tests' stamp: 'lr 3/30Unmatched ' in string literal. -> Grafoscopio is very good and thanks for reminding me I have completely forgotten it , which means I will need to take a good look to see what else is out there I can use. GUI wise, its quite different from what I imagined for my project so at least that part I will have do , feature wise though it seems like you covered many of my goals indeed though I will give a lot more close look in a few and in the near future. On Thu, Oct 27, 2016 at 6:44 PM Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas < offray.luna(a)mutabit.com> wrote: > Hi Dimitris, > > Goals 1 to 6 overlap with the ones Grafoscopio. Could you test it please > to see if we can work together in some way or Grafoscopio could work as a > foundation for your work? In that way we could break the lonely developer > reality for this one. > > Cheers, > > Offray > > On 27/10/16 09:00, Dimitris Chloupis wrote: > > I decided to make a new version for ProfStef released under then name > "Pharo Live Tutorial". > > My goals are to: > 1) add to it a history panel, so the user can navigate to the part he > wants. > 2) group parts into chapters to make progress more clear > 3) break some parts to smaller parts to ensure smooth learning curve > 4) add it to the help section of the world menu , so it is far more > visible to the user > 5) link parts to relevant chapter and section of PBE5 (or any other > relevant book), so the user can easily access more detailed info in case he > wants to. > 6) Design the tool so it can accommodate multiple tutorials, each having > its own chapters and parts > 7) Design a GUI to navigate to tutorials > 8) Integrate it with GTSpotter so the user can easily find the information > he or she wants > 9) Integrate small challenge games to help the user test what he learned > and have fun at the same time, with ability to be awarded with a score in > terms of "levels" and of course badges for achievements ;) > 10) Provide an integrated blog (nothing fancy, just text) , for latest > news about pharo , this blog will be basically copying some of my blog > posts , to show to users that we are alive and kicking and not just an > almost dead project and of course advertise the hard work of many of my > fellow guardians of the light. > > PS: obviously references to Stef will remain and he will be credited as > author of the tutorial > > Can't promise when it will be ready and can't promise first version will > include all the above but this is the direction I want to go with this. > This live interactive tutorial will replace my video tutorials since they > are too hard to keep updated. > > > On Thu, Oct 27, 2016 at 3:04 PM Vitor Medina Cruz <vitormcruz(a)gmail.com> > wrote: > > *stepharo:* > > Why not pushing/improving > > either > UPBE > ProfStef > With the Mooc Counter example: In TWO MINUTES people get > something DONE a simple counter. > What else can it be. > > > I run the following experience during my lecture. I give 1 hour > presentation about pharo / vision / sneakpeek and ask them to watch the > counter > video and redo it and it works! > > > Indeed, you can. My opinion was in the lines of improving Profstef :) > > Mooc may be good in a class with a teacher for the student to take doubts, > but I find a little confusing for someone that finds it by its own in > pharo.org. > > I have some friends on the field, some are overseas (I am in Brazil) and > when the opportunity comes I talk about Smalltalk and Pharo and how good it > is, then: > > 1- Some get interested and asks for reference, I usually point to the > Proftef, the site and the PBE; > 2- Some are interested and we are close so I can I explain something > myself and show the environment, maybe pairing; > 3- Sometimes someone got interested and went to the pharo.org by itself > and I know of that only afterwards. > > In every situation people got confused :( > > The best time was 2, because I could explain better what was going on, but > usually people try by itself, and that don't went well. For example, some > report to me that had made the exercise from PBE and got really confused in > the end: what was that I was doing? Where are my classes again? Workspace? > Where is the code again? What happened? > > I think it is hard for someone that already internalize the concept of > image and self contained environment to understand why this confusion is > happening, but when you come to think about it that is not so strange > because people are used to files and all those crap static stuff, so it is > kind of a huge paradigm shift learning Pharo: it *is* confusing for them. > > But it seems to me that you are focusing more on fresh people, been teach > on classrooms and such, right now. That may be good, I am not sure if > people already in the industry can be cooped in enough size to be able to > improve Pharo community and use. > > On Thu, Oct 27, 2016 at 9:21 AM, stepharo <stepharo(a)free.fr> wrote: > > funnily dale I read it like you wish :) > > > > Le 26/10/16 Ã 21:53, Dale Henrichs a Ã©crit : > > > > On 10/26/16 12:13 PM, Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas wrote: > > > Hi, > > On the issue of contributing to Free, Libre, Open Source Software (FLOSS) > projects, I have been reading recently Nadia Eghbal and her analysis that > confirm that most FLOSS projects are done by individuals and small teams, > which is contrary to the bazaar narrative. This comic shows the point: > > and you can find more details here: > https://medium.com/@nayafia/what-success-really-looks-like-in-open-source-2… > > After skimming the actual article and finding that the points made in the > article are valid I would have wished that the right panel in the cartoon > had said "one more pull request before going to bed" since that is closer > to what the article is about ... an active, community that contributes is > also an important component and something that Pharo/Smalltalk community > does indeed have. > > Dale > > > > >

Oct. 27, 2016

Re: [Pharo-users] The Ultimate Smalltalk Tutorial

by Ben Coman

On Thu, Oct 27, 2016 at 11:40 PM, Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas < offray.luna(a)mutabit.com> wrote: > > > [2] http://mutabit.com/offray/blog/en/entry/dumb-hello-world > > Great article. For some reason I get the idea that mixing it with your Data Week experiences would make a great TED talk. cheers -ben

Oct. 27, 2016

Re: [Pharo-users] The Ultimate Smalltalk Tutorial

by Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas

Hi, On 26/10/16 14:51, stepharo wrote: > > > > Le 26/10/16 Ã 21:13, Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas a Ã©crit : [...] >> >> On the issue of step 0, learning materials and approaches, and Pharo >> for beginners, my findings are that Pharo is pretty well suited for >> non-programmers (journalist, scientist, teachers, philosophers) >> compared to IPython for example. I have tried both, IPython notebooks >> and Pharo/Grafoscopio, and the uniformity and self containment of the >> environment is very empowering, without too much overhead and extra >> complications. So I think that we also need to look towards the >> non-usual programmer and computer scientist profiles for the >> "newbies" and interested in belonging to the community. >> > > I agree. This is why I was pushing alex to describe stories (people > can do data journalism and software vis. vs. we can do visualization) > around roassal with your experience as an example > [...] Let me know how I can help in that front. The experience confirms that Pharo and Roassal are hidden gems for a public beyond computer scientist and programmers and data driven stories and argumentation, agile visualization and interactive documentation can be the bridge for that broader public. >> Our approach in our Data Week workshop is different: >> >> - We start with some panoramic view of computing comparing Unix >> fathers versus dynabook children. This gives a point to see the >> technology and the differences and why Pharo is more like OS + IDE + >> Apps in a minimalist fashion, instead of the Unix legacy approach to >> the same problem. >> >> - We go to the professor Stef tutorial, which is the first part of a >> Grafoscopio notebook. Then we use some one liners taking from Sven's >> Elegant Pharo code, then we use HernÃ¡n's Internet Movie Data Base >> example to introduce JSON, queries and REST API, then we use blocks >> to abstract the example (see below) and create our first "Cinemania" >> package. >> > It could be nice to give steroids to Prof Stef by adding some pages > with cool scripts :) > That's the idea of the tutorial we're developing. I think that Grafoscopio notebooks have this potential for tutorials on steroids, because they have this outliner interface to group lessons together (by level, by theme), as shown in the screenshot, interactive playgrounds to execute the code and explore the objects, a GUI and document format powered by STON to save changes easily (without knowing previously how to program in Pharo) and share them via mail or DVCS. Now I'm debugging the installation process. My ConfigurationOfGrafoscopio is working locally, but I have reports of problems installing them. I don't know exactly where to start the debugging, but hopefully I will have a easy to install and use interactive notebook for tutorials on steroids and personalized curriculum. >> - Then we learn how to extend the Dataviz package (made in Roassal), >> with our Twitter exported data and we deal with an open problem: >> Twitter Data Selfies. >> >> >> So, there are several routes to learning for different populations >> and contexts. Putting the new contextualized stuff we're doing in >> dialogue with the material the community is creating (MOOC, UPBE, >> Deep Into Pharo) and other communities like Open Knowledge (see our >> recent for the upcomming Data Week 7 at [a]) is the key to let >> learners traverse different paths according to their needs and interests. >> > > Yes and I think that your approach is really interesting because it > brings a perspective that I cannot really give and this is a "super > user" perspective and it is really nice. > Thanks, Offray

Oct. 27, 2016

Re: [Pharo-users] DatePrinter

by Sven Van Caekenberghe

> On 27 Oct 2016, at 14:37, stepharo <stepharo(a)free.fr> wrote: > > French is already in and there are so great class comments that I'm crying because of outshined by beauty. Please, don't cry ;-) > Excellent job of sven as usual. Thx. The ZTimestamp package also contains ZTimestampFormat (a by-example printer & parser), support for timezone aware conversions (to/from internal UTC) and NTP server time checking (contacting an external time service). > french > self monthNames: #( > 'Janvier' 'FÃ©vrier' 'Mars' 'Avril' 'Mai' 'Juin' > 'Juillet' 'AoÃ»t' 'Septembre' 'Octobre' 'Novembre' 'DÃ©cembre' ). > self weekdayNames: #( > 'Dimanche' 'Lundi' 'Mardi' 'Mecredi' 'Jeudi' 'Vendredi' 'Samedi' ) > > > > Stef > > Le 27/10/16 Ã 14:27, Denis Kudriashov a Ã©crit : >> >> 2016-10-27 14:22 GMT+02:00 stepharo <stepharo(a)free.fr>: >> (ZTimestampFormat fromString: 'SAT, FEB 03 2001 (16:05:06)') >> french >> >> #french is your addition? or it was already supported? >

Oct. 27, 2016

Re: [Pharo-users] The Ultimate Smalltalk Tutorial

by Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas

On 26/10/16 14:53, Dale Henrichs wrote: > > > > On 10/26/16 12:13 PM, Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas wrote: >> >> >> Hi, >> >> On the issue of contributing to Free, Libre, Open Source Software >> (FLOSS) projects, I have been reading recently Nadia Eghbal and her >> analysis that confirm that most FLOSS projects are done by >> individuals and small teams, which is contrary to the bazaar >> narrative. This comic shows the point: >> >> and you can find more details here: >> https://medium.com/@nayafia/what-success-really-looks-like-in-open-source-2… >> > After skimming the actual article and finding that the points made in > the article are valid I would have wished that the right panel in the > cartoon had said "one more pull request before going to bed" since > that is closer to what the article is about ... an active, community > that contributes is also an important component and something that > Pharo/Smalltalk community does indeed have. > > Dale I think that the comic reflects properly the main concern of Nadia and her research: sustainability of FLOSS, because we have more the right panel: lonely developers solving tickets instead of getting pull request. May be we can break the spell in some fashion in a community and environment like this. Time will tell. Cheers, Offray

Oct. 27, 2016

Re: [Pharo-users] The Ultimate Smalltalk Tutorial

by Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas

Hi Dimitris, Goals 1 to 6 overlap with the ones Grafoscopio. Could you test it please to see if we can work together in some way or Grafoscopio could work as a foundation for your work? In that way we could break the lonely developer reality for this one. Cheers, Offray On 27/10/16 09:00, Dimitris Chloupis wrote: > I decided to make a new version for ProfStef released under then name > "Pharo Live Tutorial". > > My goals are to: > 1) add to it a history panel, so the user can navigate to the part he > wants. > 2) group parts into chapters to make progress more clear > 3) break some parts to smaller parts to ensure smooth learning curve > 4) add it to the help section of the world menu , so it is far more > visible to the user > 5) link parts to relevant chapter and section of PBE5 (or any other > relevant book), so the user can easily access more detailed info in > case he wants to. > 6) Design the tool so it can accommodate multiple tutorials, each > having its own chapters and parts > 7) Design a GUI to navigate to tutorials > 8) Integrate it with GTSpotter so the user can easily find the > information he or she wants > 9) Integrate small challenge games to help the user test what he > learned and have fun at the same time, with ability to be awarded with > a score in terms of "levels" and of course badges for achievements ;) > 10) Provide an integrated blog (nothing fancy, just text) , for latest > news about pharo , this blog will be basically copying some of my blog > posts , to show to users that we are alive and kicking and not just an > almost dead project and of course advertise the hard work of many of > my fellow guardians of the light. > > PS: obviously references to Stef will remain and he will be credited > as author of the tutorial > > Can't promise when it will be ready and can't promise first version > will include all the above but this is the direction I want to go with > this. This live interactive tutorial will replace my video tutorials > since they are too hard to keep updated. > > > On Thu, Oct 27, 2016 at 3:04 PM Vitor Medina Cruz > <vitormcruz(a)gmail.com <mailto:vitormcruz@gmail.com>> wrote: > > *stepharo:* > > Why not pushing/improving > > either > UPBE > ProfStef > With the Mooc Counter example: In TWO MINUTES people > get something DONE a simple counter. > What else can it be. > > > I run the following experience during my lecture. I give 1 > hour presentation about pharo / vision / sneakpeek and ask > them to watch the counter > video and redo it and it works! > > > Indeed, you can. My opinion was in the lines of improving Profstef :) > > Mooc may be good in a class with a teacher for the student to take > doubts, but I find a little confusing for someone that finds it by > its own in pharo.org <http://pharo.org>. > > I have some friends on the field, some are overseas (I am in > Brazil) and when the opportunity comes I talk about Smalltalk and > Pharo and how good it is, then: > > 1- Some get interested and asks for reference, I usually point to > the Proftef, the site and the PBE; > 2- Some are interested and we are close so I can I explain > something myself and show the environment, maybe pairing; > 3- Sometimes someone got interested and went to the pharo.org > <http://pharo.org> by itself and I know of that only afterwards. > > In every situation people got confused :( > > The best time was 2, because I could explain better what was going > on, but usually people try by itself, and that don't went well. > For example, some report to me that had made the exercise from PBE > and got really confused in the end: what was that I was doing? > Where are my classes again? Workspace? Where is the code again? > What happened? > > I think it is hard for someone that already internalize the > concept of image and self contained environment to understand why > this confusion is happening, but when you come to think about it > that is not so strange because people are used to files and all > those crap static stuff, so it is kind of a huge paradigm shift > learning Pharo: it *is* confusing for them. > > But it seems to me that you are focusing more on fresh people, > been teach on classrooms and such, right now. That may be good, I > am not sure if people already in the industry can be cooped in > enough size to be able to improve Pharo community and use. > > On Thu, Oct 27, 2016 at 9:21 AM, stepharo <stepharo(a)free.fr > <mailto:stepharo@free.fr>> wrote: > > funnily dale I read it like you wish :) > > > > Le 26/10/16 Ã 21:53, Dale Henrichs a Ã©crit : >> >> >> >> On 10/26/16 12:13 PM, Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas wrote: >>> >>> >>> Hi, >>> >>> On the issue of contributing to Free, Libre, Open Source >>> Software (FLOSS) projects, I have been reading recently >>> Nadia Eghbal and her analysis that confirm that most FLOSS >>> projects are done by individuals and small teams, which is >>> contrary to the bazaar narrative. This comic shows the point: >>> >>> and you can find more details here: >>> https://medium.com/@nayafia/what-success-really-looks-like-in-open-source-2… >>> >> After skimming the actual article and finding that the points >> made in the article are valid I would have wished that the >> right panel in the cartoon had said "one more pull request >> before going to bed" since that is closer to what the article >> is about ... an active, community that contributes is also an >> important component and something that Pharo/Smalltalk >> community does indeed have. >> >> Dale > >

Oct. 27, 2016

Re: [Pharo-users] The Ultimate Smalltalk Tutorial

by Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas

Hi, On 27/10/16 07:03, Vitor Medina Cruz wrote: [...] > > > I think it is hard for someone that already internalize the concept of > image and self contained environment to understand why this confusion > is happening, but when you come to think about it that is not so > strange because people are used to files and all those crap static > stuff, so it is kind of a huge paradigm shift learning Pharo: it > *is* confusing for them. > In my case, the best literature for helping me to overcome the strangeness of the image concept and Smalltalk in general was not any tutorial or Smalltalk programming book, it was the PhD thesis "Tracing the Dynabook: a study of technocultural transformations" by John W. Maxwell [1]. It was until I read it that I understood I was making the wrong comparisons. I was trying to compare Squeak to other programming languages, but the proper comparison was against Operative Systems and so what was alien and complicated became simple. Smalltalk was this blend of OS + language + IDE + DVCS + App + Docs, without all the complexity of "the everything is a file" mantra of the Unix legacy approach. In fact if you have the previous combination the complexity explodes. [1] https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0055157 In this alternative curriculum for critical code+data literacy, starting with history instead of (dumb) "hello world"[2] is very appreciated and a different connection point for several disciplines: philosophy, journalism, science, activism and even programming, because once they get the idea that Smalltalk was the thing that would make alto/dynabook computers work (as Unix and its legacy is the thing that makes PC/Macs work) the new paradigm becomes less alien and the start to wonder why we have this single narrative of computing. [2] http://mutabit.com/offray/blog/en/entry/dumb-hello-world I think that is important to share this educational questions and perspectives for richer entry points to this community for programmers and non-programmers, so thanks Vitor for sparking this conversation. Here is a small capture of our mind map used to introduce the curriculum I was talking in this thread, to contrast the two traditions of computing and their mantras, Unix "everything is a file" and Dynabook/Smalltalk "everything is an object" (now the challenge is to bridge them): (The full mind map is at [3] http://mutabit.com/repos.fossil/grafoscopio/doc/tip/Docs/Es/Presentaciones/… ) Cheers, Offray

Oct. 27, 2016