Juan Vuletich returns to the UKSTUG to discuss some recent enhancements to Cuis Smalltalk ( https://cuis.st/ ) : Bootstrap and Dynamic Cuis Libraries. Bootstrap: Creating Minimal Images from Scratch

* The last ancestor of Cuis Smalltalk that was bootstrapped from scratch was Smalltalk-76. Since then, various released images of Smalltalk-80, Squeak and Cuis were derived by applying updates to the previous one. A new tool called 'Bootstrap' allows the creation of minimal Smalltalk images from scratch. These images are in the Spur 32 and 64-bit formats, compatible with the OpenSmalltalk VM. 'Bootstrap' gives developers complete control over what is included in the new image. It is compact, relatively simple, and easy to extend and adapt.

Dynamic Cuis Libraries: A binary format for Cuis code that is powerful and quick to load

* Dynamic Cuis Libraries are binary files with pre-compiled code that can be loaded into a running Cuis image. They can add new classes and extend existing ones. For existing classes, there are no requirements on the shape of that class in the image loading the library. Missing variables are added, extra variables are kept, and both existing and newly loaded methods are adjusted to whatever shape the class has.

Juan Vuletich ( https://independent.academia.edu/JuanVuletich ) is the founder and lead developer of Cuis Smalltalk. He is a long-standing Open Source Smalltalk community member, having contributed kernel code to Cuis, Squeak and the Squeak VM for over 25 years. Juan has been programming since he was 14, and doing it professionally since he was 17. He holds an MS.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Buenos Aires. He works at LabWare. This will be an online meeting from home. If you'd like to join us, please sign up in advance on the meeting's Meetup page ( https://www.meetup.com/ukstug/events/299084123/ ) to receive the meeting details. Don’t forget to bring your laptop and drinks!