October 2017 - Pharo-users - lists.pharo.org

Re: [Pharo-users] Return value of a FFI call to a external function is its 2`s complement

by Paulo R. Dellani

P.S.: some details of the setup follow. pharo --version: 5.0-201707201942Â Thu Jul 20 20:40:54 UTC 2017 gcc 4.6.3 [Production Spur 64-bit VM] CoInterpreter VMMaker.oscog-eem.2254 uuid: 4f2c2cce-f4a2-469a-93f1-97ed941df0ad Jul 20 2017 StackToRegisterMappingCogit VMMaker.oscog-eem.2252 uuid: 2f3e9b0e-ecd3-4adf-b092-cce2e2587a5c Jul 20 2017 VM: 201707201942 https://github.com/OpenSmalltalk/opensmalltalk-vm.git $ Date: Thu Jul 20 12:42:21 2017 -0700 $ Plugins: 201707201942 https://github.com/OpenSmalltalk/opensmalltalk-vm.git $ Linux testing-gce-74d10329-bbfd-42e5-8995-b0e3a68c73cb 3.13.0-115-generic #162~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Fri Mar 24 16:47:06 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux plugin path: /opt/smalltalk/pharo6.1/pharo-vm/lib/pharo/5.0-201707201942 [default: /opt/smalltalk/pharo6.1/pharo-vm/lib/pharo/5.0-201707201942/] uname -a Linux neutrino 4.13.8-100.fc25.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed Oct 18 17:10:31 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux On 10/30/2017 01:02 PM, Paulo R. Dellani wrote: > Dear uFFI experts, > > I am dealing with the port of the ZeroMQ > <http://smalltalkhub.com/#%21/%7Epanuw/zeromq> code to Pharo 6 and found > something unexpected to me, at least: > > Zmq4Api>>apiZmqMsgRecv: message socket: socket withFlags: flags > Â Â Â ^ self ffiCall: #(long zmq_msg_recv (ZmqApiMessage* message, > ZmqApiSocket* socket, long flags ) ) > > Calling this returns the 2's complement of the return value > of the external function call. Is it expected that the code calling > this do the decoding of the 2'complement representation of > the return value? > > Cheers, > > Paulo

Oct. 30, 2017

Return value of a FFI call to a external function is its 2`s complement

by Paulo R. Dellani

Dear uFFI experts, I am dealing with the port of the ZeroMQ <http://smalltalkhub.com/#%21/%7Epanuw/zeromq> code to Pharo 6 and found something unexpected to me, at least: Zmq4Api>>apiZmqMsgRecv: message socket: socket withFlags: flags Â Â Â ^ self ffiCall: #(long zmq_msg_recv (ZmqApiMessage* message, ZmqApiSocket* socket, long flags ) ) Calling this returns the 2's complement of the return value of the external function call. Is it expected that the code calling this do the decoding of the 2'complement representation of the return value? Cheers, Paulo

Oct. 30, 2017

Re: [Pharo-users] The start of this article is a problem for me. I hope this can be re-thought.

by David Mason

Hear! Hear! To be fair, the person who wrote the article has no direct role in the Amber team (or Pharo, or PharoJS), he is simply a Smalltalk fan who is trying to help build the community. But you make an excellent point.! On 29 October 2017 at 17:17, PAUL DEBRUICKER <pdebruic(a)gmail.com> wrote: > https://medium.com/smalltalk-talk/a-gentle-introduction-to- > amber-8c532631e9ab > > > > Smalltalk is a programming language/environment etc. Physical > attractiveness of people doesn't really affect anything we're doing here. > And using it for marketing is offensive a significant number of people. > I'm hopeful we can do better as a community. >

Oct. 29, 2017

Re: [Pharo-users] Smalltalk Argument

by Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas

Read the User Manual [1] to install it and learn the basics of its workings. Once you have created your first document or hit the first bump, ask on this list. I will be around ;-). [1] http://mutabit.com/repos.fossil/grafoscopio/doc/tip/Docs/En/Books/Manual/ma… Cheers, Offray On 29/10/17 17:00, henry wrote: > How could I get started documenting my components with Grafoscopio? I > am interested in learning. > > I just got ASN.1 lengths right, in Java. I am looking to Pharo and > Java with an encrypted connection between them. > > > - HH > > > On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 16:59, Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas > <offray.luna(a)mutabit.com <%22mailto:offray.luna@mutabit.com%22>> wrote: > > Well is more "build and they will come, if you build also a > community who will come", which is hard, but data storytelling and > visualization as filed and dynamic moldable tools give us a > advantage point to tackle such hard problems. > > Cheers, > > Offray > > > On 29/10/17 13:13, henry wrote: > > I have heard this summarized by the term: "build it and they > will come". I think the data visualization aspect is where > Pharo entering BigData space could really payoff. That comes > down to data manipulation. Can Pharo read Avro? > > - HH > > > On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 14:00, Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas < > offray.luna(a)mutabit.com > <%22mailto:offray.luna@mutabit.com%22>> wrote: > > Thanks a lot Paulo for starting this thread and all the > participants for the clever and enlightening answers. I > just want to add my two cents. On 26/10/17 07:53, Dimitris > Chloupis wrote: > > My personal opinion is that as > pessimistic it may sound, Smalltalk has > very little to > offer in the library front. The language is still > > stellar and live environment is a great concept but from > there on > there is a decline. Sure if your are low demand > kind of person on the > library front and dont mind > implementing stuff by yourself you wont > mind the lack of > libraries but most coders , me included , dont have > this > luxury. Especially making a living with a language is a > > completely different story from learning it as a hobby,Â > > > I think and thatâs a personal opinion, that Smalltalk > goes the wrong > direction. It tries to be a do it all > language, but we already have an > army of do it all > languages. I think it would excel as the backbone in > big > complex projects. Like the Moose project is doing with > code > analysis and visualization. I think this is an > excellent direction to > go with Smalltalk. Reflection is > the big strength of Smalltalk the > ability to communicate > with its code in a direct matter. So I think > that a > Smalltalk implementation that can analyze and visualize > code > written in other languages would have been a pretty > serious reason for > people to learn Smalltalk.Â > > I am > very happy to see Pharo go towards that direction and yes > I would > definitely recommend it without hesitationÂ for > code analysis and > project management tool. Its no > coincidence that we have seen a > serious growth in our > community. When I joined back in 2011 we all > were > posting at pharo-dev, pharo-users was a dead zone and then > the > community grow larger and larger we soon may need a > third mailing list.Â > > Code complexity is an issues for > all large projects and tools that > help manage this > without having to convert to another language are > very > popular. About findingÂ niche where you can learn Pharo > and make a living from it, I think that I may be behind a > sweet spot in the field of reproducible research and data > storytelling and visualization, for different fields like > activism, journalism, science and engineering. Iâm > "working in my PhD", so I donât get paid for using Pharo & > friends (well if fact Iâm in a loan to finish my PhD), but > using Pharo have allowed my to get more dynamic results > that with previous technologies (mostly Python and Web > ones). By being able to prototype quickly I have improved > my research experience and results, which is a way to > improve research (self) funding. Also, activists, > journalist, researchers and other novices interested in > data storytelling and visualization, care little about > popularity of the language or being able to make apps > (mobile or web). What they care is about being able to > tell the story and Pharo, agile visualization and moldable > tools, have a lot to offer in this front. Theyâre easy to > learn and to adapt to fit the needs of the problems behind > those stories, as we have done with Grafoscopio[1]. So, is > nice to be part of a "trend", (data science, reproducible > research, data storytelling and data visualization) but > not being part of one that doesnât give you the freedom to > use tools that matter to you, because of the ideas they > embody and the added value they create for you and your > community. [1] > http://mutabit.com/grafoscopio/index.en.html Also, being > in Latin America, means that we can bootstrap ourselves > into alternative futures by using alternative (digital) > infrastructures and tools, without to much worry about the > deep investments in money and/or expertise on > bloated/popular technologies (we donât have such > investments here!). We can learn from the experience of > the "Global North", without following that path, but by > taking a critical approach to it (for example regarding > overcomplex, non-dynamic, bloated technologies). On the > community front, I think is important to do something to > break the circular logic of popularity: Smalltalk is > unpopular, so we donât get developers, so we donât have > libraries, and this makes such tech unpopular. Weâre a > nascent community of data storytellers and activists > learning how to use Pharo to tell our voices and how to > modify the tools to tell them in more potent/fluid ways. > We have done this mostly by ourselves, without any support > from industry or government and mostly none from academy. > Despite of the fragility of our hackerspace[2], this has > been done in a consistent way since almost two years[3] (I > started to learn Pharo, in a sparse way, 3 years ago). So, > there are ways to break the circular logic and bootstrap > communities around the advantages of the Pharo/Smalltalk > environment in places where it can be aligned to the > trends but also take a critical approach to them by > providing added value. [2] http://hackbo.co/ [3] > http://mutabit.com/dataweek/ So finding a niche and > bootstrapping tools and communities in it, seems a way to > deploy the Smalltalk Argument by example into the world, > which is a pretty powerful way to argument against > skeptics. Cheers, Offray > >

Oct. 29, 2017

Re: [Pharo-users] Smalltalk Argument

by henry

Interesting. Very. Thank you. - HH On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 17:17, phil(a)highoctane.be <[phil(a)highoctane.be]("mailto:phil@highoctane.be")> wrote: > Pharo can read Avro when this will be UFFI'ed > > [https://avro.apache.org/docs/1.7.3/api/c/index.html]("https://avro.apache.org/docs/1.7.3/api/c/index.html") > > But that is eminently doable. > > Phiil > > On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 7:13 PM, henry <[henry(a)callistohouse.club]("mailto:henry@callistohouse.club")> wrote: > >> I have heard this summarized by the term: "build it and they will come". I think the data visualization aspect is where Pharo entering BigData space could really payoff. That comes down to data manipulation. Can Pharo read Avro? >> >> - HH >> >> On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 14:00, Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas <[offray.luna(a)mutabit.com]("mailto:offray.luna@mutabit.com")> wrote: >> >>> Thanks a lot Paulo for starting this thread and all the participants for the clever and enlightening answers. I just want to add my two cents. On 26/10/17 07:53, Dimitris Chloupis wrote: > > My personal opinion is that as pessimistic it may sound, Smalltalk has > very little to offer in the library front. The language is still > stellar and live environment is a great concept but from there on > there is a decline. Sure if your are low demand kind of person on the > library front and dont mind implementing stuff by yourself you wont > mind the lack of libraries but most coders , me included , dont have > this luxury. Especially making a living with a language is a > completely different story from learning it as a hobby, > > I think and that's a personal opinion, that Smalltalk goes the wrong > direction. It tries to be a do it all language, but we already have an > army of do it all languages. I think it would excel as the backbone in > big complex projects. Like the Moose project is doing with code > analysis and visualization. I think this is an excellent direction to > go with Smalltalk. Reflection is the big strength of Smalltalk the > ability to communicate with its code in a direct matter. So I think > that a Smalltalk implementation that can analyze and visualize code > written in other languages would have been a pretty serious reason for > people to learn Smalltalk. > > I am very happy to see Pharo go towards that direction and yes I would > definitely recommend it without hesitation for code analysis and > project management tool. Its no coincidence that we have seen a > serious growth in our community. When I joined back in 2011 we all > were posting at pharo-dev, pharo-users was a dead zone and then the > community grow larger and larger we soon may need a third mailing list. > > Code complexity is an issues for all large projects and tools that > help manage this without having to convert to another language are > very popular. About finding niche where you can learn Pharo and make a living from it, I think that I may be behind a sweet spot in the field of reproducible research and data storytelling and visualization, for different fields like activism, journalism, science and engineering. I'm "working in my PhD", so I don't get paid for using Pharo & friends (well if fact I'm in a loan to finish my PhD), but using Pharo have allowed my to get more dynamic results that with previous technologies (mostly Python and Web ones). By being able to prototype quickly I have improved my research experience and results, which is a way to improve research (self) funding. Also, activists, journalist, researchers and other novices interested in data storytelling and visualization, care little about popularity of the language or being able to make apps (mobile or web). What they care is about being able to tell the story and Pharo, agile visualization and moldable tools, have a lot to offer in this front. They're easy to learn and to adapt to fit the needs of the problems behind those stories, as we have done with Grafoscopio[1]. So, is nice to be part of a "trend", (data science, reproducible research, data storytelling and data visualization) but not being part of one that doesn't give you the freedom to use tools that matter to you, because of the ideas they embody and the added value they create for you and your community. [1] [http://mutabit.com/grafoscopio/index.en.html]("http://mutabit.com/grafoscopio/index.en.html") Also, being in Latin America, means that we can bootstrap ourselves into alternative futures by using alternative (digital) infrastructures and tools, without to much worry about the deep investments in money and/or expertise on bloated/popular technologies (we don't have such investments here!). We can learn from the experience of the "Global North", without following that path, but by taking a critical approach to it (for example regarding overcomplex, non-dynamic, bloated technologies). On the community front, I think is important to do something to break the circular logic of popularity: Smalltalk is unpopular, so we don't get developers, so we don't have libraries, and this makes such tech unpopular. We're a nascent community of data storytellers and activists learning how to use Pharo to tell our voices and how to modify the tools to tell them in more potent/fluid ways. We have done this mostly by ourselves, without any support from industry or government and mostly none from academy. Despite of the fragility of our hackerspace[2], this has been done in a consistent way since almost two years[3] (I started to learn Pharo, in a sparse way, 3 years ago). So, there are ways to break the circular logic and bootstrap communities around the advantages of the Pharo/Smalltalk environment in places where it can be aligned to the trends but also take a critical approach to them by providing added value. [2] [http://hackbo.co/]("http://hackbo.co/") [3] [http://mutabit.com/dataweek/]("http://mutabit.com/dataweek/")So finding a niche and bootstrapping tools and communities in it, seems a way to deploy the Smalltalk Argument by example into the world, which is a pretty powerful way to argument against skeptics. Cheers, Offray

Oct. 29, 2017

Re: [Pharo-users] Smalltalk Argument

by henry

How could I get started documenting my components with Grafoscopio? I am interested in learning. I just got ASN.1 lengths right, in Java. I am looking to Pharo and Java with an encrypted connection between them. - HH On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 16:59, Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas <[offray.luna(a)mutabit.com]("mailto:offray.luna@mutabit.com")> wrote: > Well is more "build and they will come, if you build also a community who will come", which is hard, but data storytelling and visualization as filed and dynamic moldable tools give us a advantage point to tackle such hard problems. > > Cheers, > > Offray > > On 29/10/17 13:13, henry wrote: > >> I have heard this summarized by the term: "build it and they will come". I think the data visualization aspect is where Pharo entering BigData space could really payoff. That comes down to data manipulation. Can Pharo read Avro? >> >> - HH >> >> On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 14:00, Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas < [offray.luna(a)mutabit.com]("mailto:offray.luna@mutabit.com")> wrote: >> >>> Thanks a lot Paulo for starting this thread and all the participants for the clever and enlightening answers. I just want to add my two cents. On 26/10/17 07:53, Dimitris Chloupis wrote: > > My personal opinion is that as pessimistic it may sound, Smalltalk has > very little to offer in the library front. The language is still > stellar and live environment is a great concept but from there on > there is a decline. Sure if your are low demand kind of person on the > library front and dont mind implementing stuff by yourself you wont > mind the lack of libraries but most coders , me included , dont have > this luxury. Especially making a living with a language is a > completely different story from learning it as a hobby, > > I think and thatâs a personal opinion, that Smalltalk goes the wrong > direction. It tries to be a do it all language, but we already have an > army of do it all languages. I think it would excel as the backbone in > big complex projects. Like the Moose project is doing with code > analysis and visualization. I think this is an excellent direction to > go with Smalltalk. Reflection is the big strength of Smalltalk the > ability to communicate with its code in a direct matter. So I think > that a Smalltalk implementation that can analyze and visualize code > written in other languages would have been a pretty serious reason for > people to learn Smalltalk. > > I am very happy to see Pharo go towards that direction and yes I would > definitely recommend it without hesitation for code analysis and > project management tool. Its no coincidence that we have seen a > serious growth in our community. When I joined back in 2011 we all > were posting at pharo-dev, pharo-users was a dead zone and then the > community grow larger and larger we soon may need a third mailing list. > > Code complexity is an issues for all large projects and tools that > help manage this without having to convert to another language are > very popular. About finding niche where you can learn Pharo and make a living from it, I think that I may be behind a sweet spot in the field of reproducible research and data storytelling and visualization, for different fields like activism, journalism, science and engineering. Iâm "working in my PhD", so I donât get paid for using Pharo & friends (well if fact Iâm in a loan to finish my PhD), but using Pharo have allowed my to get more dynamic results that with previous technologies (mostly Python and Web ones). By being able to prototype quickly I have improved my research experience and results, which is a way to improve research (self) funding. Also, activists, journalist, researchers and other novices interested in data storytelling and visualization, care little about popularity of the language or being able to make apps (mobile or web). What they care is about being able to tell the story and Pharo, agile visualization and moldable tools, have a lot to offer in this front. Theyâre easy to learn and to adapt to fit the needs of the problems behind those stories, as we have done with Grafoscopio[1]. So, is nice to be part of a "trend", (data science, reproducible research, data storytelling and data visualization) but not being part of one that doesnât give you the freedom to use tools that matter to you, because of the ideas they embody and the added value they create for you and your community. [1] [http://mutabit.com/grafoscopio/index.en.html]("http://mutabit.com/grafoscopio/index.en.html") Also, being in Latin America, means that we can bootstrap ourselves into alternative futures by using alternative (digital) infrastructures and tools, without to much worry about the deep investments in money and/or expertise on bloated/popular technologies (we donât have such investments here!). We can learn from the experience of the "Global North", without following that path, but by taking a critical approach to it (for example regarding overcomplex, non-dynamic, bloated technologies). On the community front, I think is important to do something to break the circular logic of popularity: Smalltalk is unpopular, so we donât get developers, so we donât have libraries, and this makes such tech unpopular. Weâre a nascent community of data storytellers and activists learning how to use Pharo to tell our voices and how to modify the tools to tell them in more potent/fluid ways. We have done this mostly by ourselves, without any support from industry or government and mostly none from academy. Despite of the fragility of our hackerspace[2], this has been done in a consistent way since almost two years[3] (I started to learn Pharo, in a sparse way, 3 years ago). So, there are ways to break the circular logic and bootstrap communities around the advantages of the Pharo/Smalltalk environment in places where it can be aligned to the trends but also take a critical approach to them by providing added value. [2] [http://hackbo.co/]("http://hackbo.co/") [3] [http://mutabit.com/dataweek/]("http://mutabit.com/dataweek/") So finding a niche and bootstrapping tools and communities in it, seems a way to deploy the Smalltalk Argument by example into the world, which is a pretty powerful way to argument against skeptics. Cheers, Offray

Oct. 29, 2017

The start of this article is a problem for me. I hope this can be re-thought.

by PAUL DEBRUICKER

https://medium.com/smalltalk-talk/a-gentle-introduction-to-amber-8c532631e9… Smalltalk is a programming language/environment etc. Physical attractiveness of people doesn't really affect anything we're doing here. And using it for marketing is offensive a significant number of people. I'm hopeful we can do better as a community.

Oct. 29, 2017

Re: [Pharo-users] Smalltalk Argument

by phil＠highoctane.be

Pharo can read Avro when this will be UFFI'ed https://avro.apache.org/docs/1.7.3/api/c/index.html But that is eminently doable. Phiil On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 7:13 PM, henry <henry(a)callistohouse.club> wrote: > I have heard this summarized by the term: "build it and they will come". I > think the data visualization aspect is where Pharo entering BigData space > could really payoff. That comes down to data manipulation. Can Pharo read > Avro? > > - HH > > > On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 14:00, Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas < > offray.luna(a)mutabit.com> wrote: > > Thanks a lot Paulo for starting this thread and all the participants for > the clever and enlightening answers. I just want to add my two cents. On > 26/10/17 07:53, Dimitris Chloupis wrote: > > My personal opinion is that as > pessimistic it may sound, Smalltalk has > very little to offer in the > library front. The language is still > stellar and live environment is a > great concept but from there on > there is a decline. Sure if your are low > demand kind of person on the > library front and dont mind implementing > stuff by yourself you wont > mind the lack of libraries but most coders , > me included , dont have > this luxury. Especially making a living with a > language is a > completely different story from learning it as a hobby, > > > I think and that's a personal opinion, that Smalltalk goes the wrong > > direction. It tries to be a do it all language, but we already have an > > army of do it all languages. I think it would excel as the backbone in > > big complex projects. Like the Moose project is doing with code > analysis > and visualization. I think this is an excellent direction to > go with > Smalltalk. Reflection is the big strength of Smalltalk the > ability to > communicate with its code in a direct matter. So I think > that a Smalltalk > implementation that can analyze and visualize code > written in other > languages would have been a pretty serious reason for > people to learn > Smalltalk. > > I am very happy to see Pharo go towards that direction and > yes I would > definitely recommend it without hesitation for code analysis > and > project management tool. Its no coincidence that we have seen a > > serious growth in our community. When I joined back in 2011 we all > were > posting at pharo-dev, pharo-users was a dead zone and then the > community > grow larger and larger we soon may need a third mailing list. > > Code > complexity is an issues for all large projects and tools that > help manage > this without having to convert to another language are > very popular. > About finding niche where you can learn Pharo and make a living from it, I > think that I may be behind a sweet spot in the field of reproducible > research and data storytelling and visualization, for different fields like > activism, journalism, science and engineering. I'm "working in my PhD", so > I don't get paid for using Pharo & friends (well if fact I'm in a loan to > finish my PhD), but using Pharo have allowed my to get more dynamic results > that with previous technologies (mostly Python and Web ones). By being able > to prototype quickly I have improved my research experience and results, > which is a way to improve research (self) funding. Also, activists, > journalist, researchers and other novices interested in data storytelling > and visualization, care little about popularity of the language or being > able to make apps (mobile or web). What they care is about being able to > tell the story and Pharo, agile visualization and moldable tools, have a > lot to offer in this front. They're easy to learn and to adapt to fit the > needs of the problems behind those stories, as we have done with > Grafoscopio[1]. So, is nice to be part of a "trend", (data science, > reproducible research, data storytelling and data visualization) but not > being part of one that doesn't give you the freedom to use tools that > matter to you, because of the ideas they embody and the added value they > create for you and your community. [1] http://mutabit.com/ > grafoscopio/index.en.html Also, being in Latin America, means that we can > bootstrap ourselves into alternative futures by using alternative (digital) > infrastructures and tools, without to much worry about the deep investments > in money and/or expertise on bloated/popular technologies (we don't have > such investments here!). We can learn from the experience of the "Global > North", without following that path, but by taking a critical approach to > it (for example regarding overcomplex, non-dynamic, bloated technologies). > On the community front, I think is important to do something to break the > circular logic of popularity: Smalltalk is unpopular, so we don't get > developers, so we don't have libraries, and this makes such tech unpopular. > We're a nascent community of data storytellers and activists learning how > to use Pharo to tell our voices and how to modify the tools to tell them in > more potent/fluid ways. We have done this mostly by ourselves, without any > support from industry or government and mostly none from academy. Despite > of the fragility of our hackerspace[2], this has been done in a consistent > way since almost two years[3] (I started to learn Pharo, in a sparse way, 3 > years ago). So, there are ways to break the circular logic and bootstrap > communities around the advantages of the Pharo/Smalltalk environment in > places where it can be aligned to the trends but also take a critical > approach to them by providing added value. [2] http://hackbo.co/ [3] > http://mutabit.com/dataweek/ So finding a niche and bootstrapping tools > and communities in it, seems a way to deploy the Smalltalk Argument by > example into the world, which is a pretty powerful way to argument against > skeptics. Cheers, Offray > >

Oct. 29, 2017

Re: [Pharo-users] Smalltalk Argument

by Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas

Well is more "build and they will come, if you build also a community who will come", which is hard, but data storytelling and visualization as filed and dynamic moldable tools give us a advantage point to tackle such hard problems. Cheers, Offray On 29/10/17 13:13, henry wrote: > I have heard this summarized by the term: "build it and they will > come". I think the data visualization aspect is where Pharo entering > BigData space could really payoff. That comes down to data > manipulation. Can Pharo read Avro? > > - HH > > > On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 14:00, Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas > <offray.luna(a)mutabit.com <mailto:offray.luna@mutabit.com>> wrote: >> Thanks a lot Paulo for starting this thread and all the participants >> for the clever and enlightening answers. I just want to add my two >> cents. On 26/10/17 07:53, Dimitris Chloupis wrote: > > My personal >> opinion is that as pessimistic it may sound, Smalltalk has > very >> little to offer in the library front. The language is still > stellar >> and live environment is a great concept but from there on > there is >> a decline. Sure if your are low demand kind of person on the > >> library front and dont mind implementing stuff by yourself you wont > >> mind the lack of libraries but most coders , me included , dont have >> > this luxury. Especially making a living with a language is a > >> completely different story from learning it as a hobby,Â > > I think >> and that's a personal opinion, that Smalltalk goes the wrong > >> direction. It tries to be a do it all language, but we already have >> an > army of do it all languages. I think it would excel as the >> backbone in > big complex projects. Like the Moose project is doing >> with code > analysis and visualization. I think this is an excellent >> direction to > go with Smalltalk. Reflection is the big strength of >> Smalltalk the > ability to communicate with its code in a direct >> matter. So I think > that a Smalltalk implementation that can analyze >> and visualize code > written in other languages would have been a >> pretty serious reason for > people to learn Smalltalk.Â > > I am very >> happy to see Pharo go towards that direction and yes I would > >> definitely recommend it without hesitationÂ for code analysis and > >> project management tool. Its no coincidence that we have seen a > >> serious growth in our community. When I joined back in 2011 we all > >> were posting at pharo-dev, pharo-users was a dead zone and then the > >> community grow larger and larger we soon may need a third mailing >> list.Â > > Code complexity is an issues for all large projects and >> tools that > help manage this without having to convert to another >> language are > very popular. About findingÂ niche where you can learn >> Pharo and make a living from it, I think that I may be behind a sweet >> spot in the field of reproducible research and data storytelling and >> visualization, for different fields like activism, journalism, >> science and engineering. I'm "working in my PhD", so I don't get paid >> for using Pharo & friends (well if fact I'm in a loan to finish my >> PhD), but using Pharo have allowed my to get more dynamic results >> that with previous technologies (mostly Python and Web ones). By >> being able to prototype quickly I have improved my research >> experience and results, which is a way to improve research (self) >> funding. Also, activists, journalist, researchers and other novices >> interested in data storytelling and visualization, care little about >> popularity of the language or being able to make apps (mobile or >> web). What they care is about being able to tell the story and Pharo, >> agile visualization and moldable tools, have a lot to offer in this >> front. They're easy to learn and to adapt to fit the needs of the >> problems behind those stories, as we have done with Grafoscopio[1]. >> So, is nice to be part of a "trend", (data science, reproducible >> research, data storytelling and data visualization) but not being >> part of one that doesn't give you the freedom to use tools that >> matter to you, because of the ideas they embody and the added value >> they create for you and your community. [1] >> http://mutabit.com/grafoscopio/index.en.html Also, being in Latin >> America, means that we can bootstrap ourselves into alternative >> futures by using alternative (digital) infrastructures and tools, >> without to much worry about the deep investments in money and/or >> expertise on bloated/popular technologies (we don't have such >> investments here!). We can learn from the experience of the "Global >> North", without following that path, but by taking a critical >> approach to it (for example regarding overcomplex, non-dynamic, >> bloated technologies). On the community front, I think is important >> to do something to break the circular logic of popularity: Smalltalk >> is unpopular, so we don't get developers, so we don't have libraries, >> and this makes such tech unpopular. We're a nascent community of data >> storytellers and activists learning how to use Pharo to tell our >> voices and how to modify the tools to tell them in more potent/fluid >> ways. We have done this mostly by ourselves, without any support from >> industry or government and mostly none from academy. Despite of the >> fragility of our hackerspace[2], this has been done in a consistent >> way since almost two years[3] (I started to learn Pharo, in a sparse >> way, 3 years ago). So, there are ways to break the circular logic and >> bootstrap communities around the advantages of the Pharo/Smalltalk >> environment in places where it can be aligned to the trends but also >> take a critical approach to them by providing added value. [2] >> http://hackbo.co/ [3] http://mutabit.com/dataweek/ So finding a niche >> and bootstrapping tools and communities in it, seems a way to deploy >> the Smalltalk Argument by example into the world, which is a pretty >> powerful way to argument against skeptics. Cheers, Offray

Oct. 29, 2017

New Pharo Booklet

by Stephane Ducasse

Hi guys I just published a new little booklet on Pharo tips and tricks! Available at: http://books.pharo.org Feedback and contributions are welcome as usual. Stef

Oct. 29, 2017