February 2026 - Pharo-users

call for an ESUG general chair
by stephane ducasse Feb. 6, 2026

Feb. 6, 2026

For those that are not on the ESUG mailing-list Hello people Even if I loved ESUG conference and IWST is a major important step for many young Smalltalkers, I decided that I do not want to organise ESUG this year. So far I will continue the discussions with the local organiser for the budget, set up the information on the web site and I will contact the video guys but I think that it will be the maximum I will do. So let me know if some of you want to join the effort because Iâm exhausted and fed up also by all the free good energy that I spent on Smalltalk survival. Sometimes I do not think that this is either considered nor valuable. I have the impression that many people like to play in their own little places and just like to eat cookies others put on the table. I do not have free cookies anymore. Contact me privately if you want to help. S.

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[Ann] BPatterns: The rewrite engine at your fingertips
by Denis Kudriashov Feb. 3, 2026

Feb. 3, 2026

Hi all. This is the release of *BPatterns* project, one of my old ideas on how to make the rewrite engine usable for scripting. As a quick reminder, here is an example of the classic rewrite-engine matching syntax: *``@receiver isNil ifTrue: ``@nilBlock* In practice, patterns like this usually live inside string literalsâhidden away in lint rules, deprecations, or refactorings. To use them for *manual* code search or rewriting, you typically need a dedicated tool. Now compare that with the same pattern expressed as a *BPattern*: *[ any isNil ifTrue: anyBlock ] bpattern* No special syntax. No magical tools. Just pure Smalltalk. You write a block. You send #bpattern. Youâre done. Every editor understands it. Every tool respects it. Want to see where this pattern appears? * [ any isNil ifTrue: anyBlock ] bpattern browseUsers* [image: Screenshot 2026-01-31 at 12.16.19.png] Want to rewrite all of them? *[[ any isNil ifTrue: anyBlock ] -> [ any ifNil: anyBlock ]] brewrite preview* [image: Screenshot 2026-01-31 at 12.17.57.png] Because *BPatterns are real Smalltalk code*, all development tools work out of the box: syntax highlighting, completion, navigation, refactorings. This is the rewrite engine treated as a *first-class citizen*. Not strings. Not tooling sidecars. Not just for advanced users. *A rewrite engine you can actually use.* * A rewrite engine at your fingertips.* More details are in the blog post: - https://dionisiydk.blogspot.com/2026/02/bpatterns-rewrite-engine-with-small… And follow the project on GitHub: - https://github.com/dionisiydk/BPatterns -

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[Ann] New deprecations API
by Denis Kudriashov Feb. 3, 2026

Feb. 3, 2026

Following the release of *BPatterns <https://github.com/dionisiydk/BPatterns>*, I am happy to share another idea that naturally grows out of it: *simplifying deprecations in Pharo*. Todayâs deprecations are powerful but verboseâstring-based rewrite rules, duplicated selectors, and boilerplate that most of us copy from examples. With BPatterns, all of this can be eliminated: Object>>confirm: queryString ^ self *deprecatedBy: * [ ConfirmationRequest signal: queryString ] Deprecation is now expressed in the same language as the code itself, not in a separate, string-based mini-language. There is no need to think about transformation rulesâthey are part of the system and enabled by default. Zero boilerplate. No duplicated code For more details and comparison with current API see the blog post: - https://dionisiydk.blogspot.com/2026/02/deprecations-as-they-should-be.html

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