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

[TechTalk] 17th Oct: Artificial Intelligence

by Marcus Denker

Pharo TechTalk: Artificial Intelligence ââââââââââââââââââââââââ A regular chat about Pharo. Happens on Discord. Topic: Artificial Intelligence. This is an interactive mini lecture about AI by Alexandre Bergel. 17 Oct 2017 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (UTC+02:00) This is 17h Paris time. you can download a calendar entry here: https://association.pharo.org/event-2642664

Oct. 11, 2017

Re: [Pharo-users] [Ann] PharoLauncher v1.0.1 released!

by Christophe Demarey

Hi Vitor, > Le 10 oct. 2017 Ã 19:00, Vitor Medina Cruz <vitormcruz(a)gmail.com> a Ã©crit : > > Â« Program Â» folder is the default location where to install apps on Windows. > If a user does not have admin rights, he can simply install it under its home directory. > >> Also there is the UAC Virtualization fiasco that complicates installing upgrades. >> http://lists.pharo.org/pipermail/pharo-dev_lists.pharo.org/2014-January/091… <http://lists.pharo.org/pipermail/pharo-dev_lists.pharo.org/2014-January/091…> > >> Could we *please* install Windows PharoLauncher into user folders? > > > Users can choose to install Pharo Launcher where they wish. > We could choose another default location but not sure it is best option. > > Nope, I donât have any option of changing Pharo launcher installation. I double click the exe and receive a message telling me I need administrative rights. Can this be changed? Itâs a deal breaker for those using Windows. > For Windows, Pharo is shipped with an installer. Its only goal is to ask you where to install Pharo. So yes, the installation directory is configurable. Just to be sure, here the link to the installer: http://files.pharo.org/platform/launcher/pharo_installer-1.0.1.exe

Oct. 11, 2017

Re: [Pharo-users] [Ann] PharoLauncher v1.0.1 released!

by Christophe Demarey

> Le 9 oct. 2017 Ã 15:56, Peter UhnÃ¡k <i.uhnak(a)gmail.com> a Ã©crit : > I guess I hate when applications are throwing their garbage into my $HOME (this also goes for VirtualBox, Eclipse, and everyone else). Perfectly understandable. > If I am not accessing the files directly, but they are pretty much always managed by some other applications, then for me they are polluting $HOME. (And yes, I sometimes do launch to image by hand, or manipulate VirtualBox by hand, but that doesn't change the fact that it is not the primary way to work with it.) > > But no worries, I rest my case and I patch it for myself. (So no need to add configuration for this either.) No need to patch, you already have settings to configure where to store images and virtual machines. Regards, Christophe

Oct. 11, 2017

Re: [Pharo-users] Embedded PDF viewer?

by Ben Coman

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 2:03 PM, Ben Coman <btc(a)openinworld.com> wrote: > > > On Tue, Oct 10, 2017 at 8:58 PM, Manuel Leuenberger > > <leuenberger(a)inf.unibe.ch> wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > > > I want to view a PDF within Pharo. I found that Athens has a PDF > canvas, but I have no idea how to use it. Is there a way to view a PDF > within Pharo, so that I can scroll, zoom, click links etc. in the PDF? > > > > > > Cheers, > > > Manuel > > > On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 3:04 AM, Stephane Ducasse <stepharo.self(a)gmail.com> > wrote: > > > > Hi manuel > > > > So far I do not know if we have this is Pharo. > > I imagine that we would have to build a renderer once we will have the > > PDF reader from Christian library. > > > > Stef > > [Edit: Update license link] > A renderer will have great synergy with PDFTalk, but I think a proof of > concept can be done independently. > I've been poking at this topic for a while looking for options. > Coincidentally a couple of days I discovered the PDFium library. > I haven't had time yet to give it a run, but it seems a good candidate > since... > * Its a successful commercial product by Foxit built into Chrome converted > to open source with Google's backing for use in Chromium > https://www.foxitsoftware.com/company/press.php?id=305 > * Its license is BSD style > *https://github.com/hfiguiere/pdfium/blob/master/LICENSE > <https://github.com/hfiguiere/pdfium/blob/master/LICENSE>* > * Although written in C++ it has a C interface > https://github.com/hfiguiere/pdfium/blob/master/public/fpdfview.h > * Search here on " Function: " to skim through > * Proof of concept seems to only need these key functions... > * void FPDF_RenderPageBitmap( FPDF_BITMAP bitmap,FPDF_PAGE > page, ... ) > * FPDF_BITMAP FPDFBitmap_Create( int width, int height, int > alpha); > * FPDF_PAGE FPDF_LoadPage ( FPDF_DOCUMENT document, int > page_index ) > * FPDF_DOCUMENT FPDF_LoadMemDocument ( const void* data_buf > ... ) > * void FPDF_InitLibrary () > * Has a concise getting started for POC... > https://github.com/hfiguiere/pdfium/blob/master/docs/getting > -started.md > * Maybe useful fork with V8 disabled by default > https://github.com/klokantech/pdfium > * Master repo here > https://pdfium.googlesource.com/pdfium/ > > So Pharo might load a PDF file into a ByteArray, pass that to > FPDF_LoadMemDocument() & FPDF_LoadPage(), > then get a bitmap back from FPDFBitmap_Create() & FPDF_RenderPageBitmap() > and display the result in a Pharo window. > > The rest of this week I'm working 12 hour days on a mine site. I could > try it out once I'm home, but in the meantime is anyone else keen to try > it? > > cheers -ben >

Oct. 11, 2017

Re: [Pharo-users] Embedded PDF viewer?

by Ben Coman

> On Tue, Oct 10, 2017 at 8:58 PM, Manuel Leuenberger > <leuenberger(a)inf.unibe.ch> wrote: > > Hi, > > > > I want to view a PDF within Pharo. I found that Athens has a PDF canvas, but I have no idea how to use it. Is there a way to view a PDF within Pharo, so that I can scroll, zoom, click links etc. in the PDF? > > > > Cheers, > > Manuel On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 3:04 AM, Stephane Ducasse <stepharo.self(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi manuel > > So far I do not know if we have this is Pharo. > I imagine that we would have to build a renderer once we will have the > PDF reader from Christian library. > > Stef A renderer will have great synergy with PDFTalk, but I think a proof of concept can be done independently. I've been poking at this topic for a while looking for options. Coincidentally a couple of days I discovered the PDFium library. I haven't had time yet to give it a run, but it seems a good candidate since... * Its a successful commercial product by Foxit built into Chrome converted to open source with Google's backing for use in Chromium https://www.foxitsoftware.com/company/press.php?id=305 * Its license is BSD style https://github.com/hfiguiere/pdfium/tree/master/public * Although written in C++ it has a C interface https://github.com/hfiguiere/pdfium/blob/master/public/fpdfview.h * Search here on " Function: " to skim through * Proof of concept seems to only need these key functions... * void FPDF_RenderPageBitmap( FPDF_BITMAP bitmap,FPDF_PAGE page, ... ) * FPDF_BITMAP FPDFBitmap_Create( int width, int height, int alpha); * FPDF_PAGE FPDF_LoadPage ( FPDF_DOCUMENT document, int page_index ) * FPDF_DOCUMENT FPDF_LoadMemDocument ( const void* data_buf ... ) * void FPDF_InitLibrary () * Has a concise getting started for POC... https://github.com/hfiguiere/pdfium/blob/master/docs/ getting-started.md * Maybe useful fork with V8 disabled by default https://github.com/klokantech/pdfium * Master repo here https://pdfium.googlesource.com/pdfium/ So Pharo might load a PDF file into a ByteArray, pass that to FPDF_LoadMemDocument() & FPDF_LoadPage(), then get a bitmap back from FPDFBitmap_Create() & FPDF_RenderPageBitmap() and display the result in a Pharo window. The rest of this week I'm working 12 hour days on a mine site. I could try it out once I'm home, but in the meantime is anyone else keen to try it? cheers -ben

Oct. 11, 2017

Re: [Pharo-users] Problem with input to XML Parser - 'Invalid UTF8 encoding'

by monty

I know what the problem is and will have it fixed shortly. Thanks for the report. > Sent: Monday, October 09, 2017 at 9:03 AM > From: "Peter Kenny" <peter(a)pbkresearch.co.uk> > To: pharo-users(a)lists.pharo.org > Subject: Re: [Pharo-users] Problem with input to XML Parser - 'Invalid UTF8 encoding' > > Correction - I am misrepresenting Sven. What he said was that Zinc would not > look inside the HTML <head> node to find out about coding. It would of > course use information in the HTTP headers, if any. > > > Peter Kenny wrote > > Henry > > > > Thanks for the explanations. It's a bit clearer now. I'm still not sure > > about how ZnUrl>>retrieveContents manages to decode correctly in this > > case; > > I'm sure I recall Sven saying it didn't (and in his view shouldn't) look > > at > > the HTTP declarations in the header. There is also the mystery of how the > > string reader in the XML-Parser package (XMLURI>>get) does the same trick, > > when it is presumably what XMLHTMLParser>>parseURL: uses and fails. > > > > However, all these are second order problems. It all begins because the > > Corriere web site does strange things with encoding, including using a > > UTF8 > > character in a page coded with 8859-1, as Paul pointed out. In any case, > > reading the page as a string and then parsing it solves my problem, so I > > shall stick to that as a standard procedure. Most importantly, I don't > > think > > there is any indication of a problem in the XML package for Monty to worry > > about. > > > > Thanks again > > > > Peter > > > > > > > > -- > > Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html > > > > > > -- > Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html > >

Oct. 11, 2017

Re: [Pharo-users] Behold Pharo: The Modern Smalltalk

by john pfersich

> On Oct 10, 2017, at 09:58, horrido <horrido.hobbies(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Interestingly, I'm getting a fair amount of pushback on this. Personally, I > think it would be very helpful to have a live (updatable, so as to keep it > current) reference page for the class library, something that developers can > easily look up what they need. After all, most of the power of Pharo comes > from the class library and we need to make it as accessible as possible to > less experienced Pharoers (i.e., beginners). > > Exploring the class library through the System Browser is very inefficient. > This is further exacerbated by the fact that many classes and methods are > simply not well-documented (containing a cursory remark which is just barely > useful). > I dunno, maybe Iâm weird, but I find the System Browser a fantastic way to explore the class library. If you find a class or method that isnât well documented, write a comment and send a change request. Stef told me this ages ago. I might add, if you find a bug you should write a test that exercises the bug and submit it on fogbugz (the bug tracking system). > I realize that creating a live reference page is not easy to do. In fact, > it's a lot of work. But the absence of such a page is a real obstacle to > Pharo acceptance. > > > > horrido wrote >> Thanks. I gave your answer verbatim. I also added the following paragraph: >> >> The problem I find with todayâs developers is that they are rather >> closed-minded. They are rigid and inflexible, and not willing to adapt to >> new and different ways of doing things. In my generation (circa >> 1980â1990), >> people didnât have a problem with trying different technologies. Thatâs >> why >> I had no issue with learning Smalltalk 10 years ago, after I had retired >> from a 20-year-long career in C systems programming and FORTRAN scientific >> programming. >> >> >> >> Sven Van Caekenberghe-2 wrote >>>> On 6 Oct 2017, at 14:54, horrido < >> >>> horrido.hobbies@ >> >>> > wrote: >>>> >>>> I received this comment from someone who complained: >>>> >>>> *What about the lack of documentation? From time to time Iâve checked >>>> some >>>> SmallTalk implementations like Squeak, GNU-Smalltalk and now Pharo. Of >>>> these, only GNU-SmallTalk appears to have a free, official programming >>>> guide >>>> and core library reference that any serious programmer expects from a >>>> language. >>>> >>>> https://www.gnu.org/software/smalltalk/manual-base/html_node/* >>>> >>>> I pointed to Pharo's documentation but then he came back with: >>>> >>>> *Then show me a link of the free, maintained reference documentation for >>>> the >>>> classes that form âthe core libraryâ, like this one for Python >>>> (https://docs.python.org/3/library/index.html)* >>>> >>>> It's true, most Smalltalks do not have a core library reference, not >>>> even >>>> VisualWorks! So what is the proper response to this complaint? >>> >>> The first answer is that Pharo/Smalltalk is unique in that a running >>> system/IDE contains _all_ source code, _all_ documentation (class, >>> method, >>> help, tutorial), _all_ unit tests and _all_ runnable examples in a very >>> easy, accessible way. It takes some getting used to, but this is actually >>> better and much more powerful than any alternative. >>> >>> The second answer is that there are lots of books and articles that take >>> the classic/structured book/paper approach. There is >>> http://books.pharo.org, http://themoosebook.org, >>> http://book.seaside.st/book, http://medium.com/concerning-pharo and many >>> more. >>> >>>> Thanks. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html >>>> >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html > > > > > > -- > Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html >

Oct. 11, 2017

Re: [Pharo-users] Embedded PDF viewer?

by Dimitris Chloupis

Implementation wise this may be possible through a hack, some OS windows can be semi trasparent , this make it possible to overlay one GUI element over the other in this case a PDF with basic scrolling handles. It should be possible with UFFI and some knowledge of OS GUI APIs. Probably much easier than having to implement the entire things in Pharo from scratch which would be ideal. The overlay windows can change size according to the dimension of the Pharo windows so you can fool any pharo user thinking this is actually an internal Pharo window. This way even if the user resize or maximise the pharo window nothing messes up the Pharo gui. On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 12:04 AM Offray Vladimir Luna CÃ¡rdenas < offray.luna(a)mutabit.com> wrote: > I have been thinking about this. I don't know if you can have a VNC > client inside the image that can be used to render a PDF app, but that > would be my first approach, to leverage all the features in the current > PDF readers. > > Cheers, > > Offray > > > On 10/10/17 14:04, Stephane Ducasse wrote: > > Hi manuel > > > > So far I do not know if we have this is Pharo. > > I imagine that we would have to build a renderer once we will have the > > PDF reader from Christian library. > > > > Stef > > > > On Tue, Oct 10, 2017 at 8:58 PM, Manuel Leuenberger > > <leuenberger(a)inf.unibe.ch> wrote: > >> Hi, > >> > >> I want to view a PDF within Pharo. I found that Athens has a PDF > canvas, but I have no idea how to use it. Is there a way to view a PDF > within Pharo, so that I can scroll, zoom, click links etc. in the PDF? > >> > >> Cheers, > >> Manuel > >> > >> > > > > >

Oct. 10, 2017

Re: [Pharo-users] Custom URI scheme for Pharo

by Dimitris Chloupis

I think I remember this disussed before. By talking with Pharo I assume here about another program talking to Pharo ? Possible not wrriten in Pharo ? If thats the case then you can use whatever IPC works better for your needs. If the communication will be remotely I recommend sockets, for fast local communication I recommend shared memory. They are both very mature technologies , very reliable and cross platform. Now on the URI protocol, I think that will depend what you want to achieve. Any string will be easy to parse with Pharo's regex and trigger the approriate methods. Pharo also have Annoucements, think of it as an event system that awaits to be triggered by an event, usually a Pharo event but I see no reason why it cant listen to external events either. I do not think you will need a middle application , a servel client relation shipe should be more than enough. With my Atlas bridge which is a Pharo library that allows you to use Python libraries I did a neat trick with Pharo that it already communicated with Python via sockets, sending python commands but also Python could communicate back errors , then Pharo would trigger the debugger, display the python error inside the Pharo debugger and the debugger would pop up on the exact pharo command that send the faulty python code. You could then change the pharo command on the spot and it was resent and python continued like the error never happened to retain the all important live coding workflow. I created a tiny protocol to difirentia incoming messages talking about errors from the ones returning python varriable values. Something stupid like "pythonError: blah blah" but it got the job done On Tue, Oct 10, 2017 at 10:07 PM Manuel Leuenberger < leuenberger(a)inf.unibe.ch> wrote: > Hi, > > Is there any support from the VM/Application package to add custom URI > schemes to listen to from within Pharo? I would like to have a hyperlink > like âpharo://send?data=fancypantsâ in an arbitrary document that, when > clicked, switches to Pharo and calls a hook I can register. Could someone > give me a hint how to achieve that, or do I have to build a little bridge > application that handles the scheme registration and talks with Pharo > through another channel? Currently, I only need this for OS X. > > Cheers, > Manuel > >

Oct. 10, 2017

Re: [Pharo-users] Behold Pharo: The Modern Smalltalk

by Dimitris Chloupis

Yes exactly my post was not an effort to diminish the value of Pharo as live coding system. My effort was to reveal my findings because I have been doing a lot of research lately. I am not keen on abandoning the comforts of Pharo live coding wise now that I code in Python. But to get to Pharo level there are many issues to be resolved. I know however that I can get to Pharo level eventually at least on features I really care about. Because I have little interest in proving something better from something else. I would not try this if there were not already a substantial amount of features. I know that you guys did not know this is possible and I do not think thats a bad thing because a year ago I did not know that is possible either. It started as a joke and out of it I created two projects , Atlas and CPPBridge both 100% Pharo code. With atlas I could have settled with inling python syntax but I did not because that was easy instead I parsed Pharo syntax to python syntax to make a deeper integration between Pharo and Python libraries. I think how difficult it is depends on how high you put your barrier of entry, if you go for a full blown live coding system like Pharo has, it will be difficult because there will be several important issues to resolve. As you said those language do not follow a strict live coding workflow. They have live coding features out of need to resolved real time issues. Does C has DLLs because it cares about live coding, obviously not, but the moment you have a library that can at any moment be reloaded you already made the first step down the path. When I said you can do hardcore live coding with ease, I meant that you can live code full time provided you have built some of the functionality. Once you got a basic library running the rest just flows. But if you want to complete neck to neck with Pharo it will be a challange because Pharo does not have live coding feature only at language level but also at IDE level. Again if people did only the easy stuff, we would not have Pharo would we , the fun is in the challenge. If a python coder should be stop by the lack of a live coding enviroment should a Pharo be stopped by the lack of namespaces ? Of course not, languages are there to be extended via third party libraries and the more we challange ourselved the deeper the understanding becomes and the more amazing stuff we can do. On Tue, Oct 10, 2017 at 2:25 PM Sean P. DeNigris <sean(a)clipperadams.com> wrote: > kilon.alios wrote > > itâs clear the community is unwilling to deal with such discussions. > > I wouldn't say that... after all this thread has the most posts on this > list > since January 21 ;) I personally learned a lot and was glad to hear all the > points. I thought the last two pretty much captured the situation, which is > that you *can* do live programming in other languages, but the advantage of > Pharo is that it's *about* live programming. I certainly didn't know it was > even possible in some of the other languages mentioned. Yet, practically, > it > seems extremely difficult for a system that tacks something on as a feature > to compete with a system that values that thing at its core. Ironically, > the > biggest barrier seems to be human, in the McLuhan sense that our medium > determines how/what we can think/say. I feel lucky to have discovered > Smalltalk and have cast off (most) of the brain damage from C and C++ ha > ha. > > > > ----- > Cheers, > Sean > -- > Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html > >

Oct. 10, 2017