Iliad web framework released
21 July, 2009
Nicolas Petton recently announced on the squeak-dev mailing list the first public release of Iliad, which is succintly described on the Iliad website as a “a flexible, lightweight but powerful Smalltalk web framework.” Originally developed on GNU Smalltalk, but ported to Squeak/Pharo, Iliad features:
- standalone stateful widgets
- nice urls with a simple routing system
- simple API
- easy to setup and deploy (no complicated configuration step)
- javascript layer to update widgets using AJAX. If javascript is not enabled, the behaviour remains the same by making normal requests
- support for the Magritte meta-description framework, for simple generation of views on data
Iliad combines elements of the other leading Smalltalk web frameworks Seaside, Aida/Web and HttpView2. You can find out more about the installation and use of Iliad by reading the documentation on the Iliad site, and on the GNU Smalltalk site.
Pier 1.2 now out
14 July, 2009
Lukas Renggli, Tudor Girba and colleagues have been working hard on their Pier web content management system for the past few months, and have now shared the product of their labours with the release of Pier 1.2. Pier is a lightweight web content management system, built on Seaside, and intended to be managed from the browser.
They announced some of the key features of the 1.2 release as:
- An improved system for including dynamic content in pages (see http://www.piercms.com/doc/syntax for more details)
- No need to have the _s and _k Seaside parameters in the url (it uses cookies to record state by default)
- Pier can remember last login information
- Smaller javascript code for faster page loading
- Better default CSS (including a style for events)
- Halos for enhanced editing
- Available as a one-click install (based on Pharo 0.1-10374)
The one-click image is available for download at the Pier web site, where Tudor has also produced a brief video to get you started with Pier. There are plenty more resources including more videos on the documentation section of the site.
SOB lays an egg – what will emerge?
2 July, 2009
Those of you who read the squeak-dev mailing list will know that the list is currently going through the annual frenzy of discussion about the nature and direction of Squeak, including much to-and-fro over such topics as: the original vision of the founders of Squeak; the tangled relationship between Etoys and the rest of the Squeak environment and community; the reasons behind the Pharo project and how much its goals really differ from those of Squeak; whether children should be locked in the nursery or allowed to roam freely into every room of the house; and much more. If you have time (and some light body armour), it’s well worth reading through the hundreds of emails that have been written which explore and interpret much of the history and philosophy of Squeak.
This discussion has motivated the Squeak Oversight Board to look at one topic that caused much debate: how to manage the development of Squeak. Driven by a concern that there are many hurdles that discourage wide-spread participation in the contribution process, the Board have put forward a new community development model that they hope will “enable the community at large to improve Squeak, the core of the system and its supporting libraries”.
Based on processes that have been shown to work in commercial settings, the Board’s model includes the use of Monticello as the primary source code management system, free access for the developers to the main repositories (trunk, tests, and inbox) and an incremental update process for both developers and users of Squeak.
Obviously, such a change has sparked off its own debate, and important questions are being hammered out on the squeak dev mailing list. If you care about the health of the Squeak environment, its future direction, and the future support for your own favourite applications, this is a key moment for you to understand and contribute to the discussion which is continuing on the squeak-dev mailing list (see archives), on irc, and on the Board’s blog.
