Cincom Smalltalk Roadmap 2010

Cincom Smalltalk Roadmap
2010

ESUG Update
By Arden Thomas
Cincom Smalltalk
Product Line Manager

Cincom talks:
• Bonding with Pango
 by Travis Griggs

• Xtreams - streams for the new millennium
• Stampy
 by Martin Kobetic

• Current Developments in the Store Version Control System
 by Alan Knight

• Wolf Pack Programming
• On the Extremities of Extreme
 by Jason Ayers, Julian Fitzell

Contents
• The Products
• Product Improvements
• Product Cycle
• Cincom Smalltalk Foundation
• ObjectStudio
• WebVelocity
• VisualWorks
• What’s Next?
• Show and Tell

The Products

A LOT has happened in the past year!
• Three (3) MAJOR product releases
• Two (2) maintenance releases

The Products

Cincom Smalltalk Foundation

The Products

ObjectStudio WebVelocity VisualWorks


Product Improvements
What are we trying to do?
* Make changes to:
• Benefit our customers
• Benefit Smalltalk
 Keep it Vital and Competitive

What kinds of product changes are there?
• New Features
• Refinement/enhancements/updates
• Foundational (prerequisites for future work)
• Cleanup:
 Removing unused, obsolete, broken code
 Refactoring/restructuring old code/subsystems/frameworks

What kinds of product changes are there?
• Disruptive/non-disruptive

Where do we get our ideas from?
• Customers
• Community
• Engineering & Support
• Sales

Product Cycle
We tried new things to improve the benefits to
customers:
• What did we try?
• Why did we try it?
• How did it work out?

Product Cycle Length
What: Longer product cycle
Why:
• Customers not able to migrate to frequent releases
• Focus on new product benefits to allow customers to more easily
justify upgrading

How did it work out?
• Mixed
What’s next?

Product Cycle Improvements
What: Development Process Refinement
Why:
• Time to “Sharpen the saw”
How did it work out?
• Well!

• Unicode Windows virtual machine
 Wide char support is now standard and the basis for Internationalization work
• Store Revamped
 Store was revamped to use O-R mapping for speed and a base for future
changes
• 64 bit work
 Significant fixes/improvements
• Atomic loading
 A code loading and integration technology that allows developers to avoid a
class of difficulties related to sequence and prerequisites when loading code
• Delays
 An alternative implementation addresses issues like handling the current time
being changed on the host computer during the delay; or the time changing
due to daylight savings time
• Mac virtual machine improvements and support
• New prerequisite engine integration

• Merge Engine
 Faster, more capable merge engine

• New Comparison Tool
• Store improvements
 New Store Browsers (RB based)
 Glorp based Store garbage collection
 Fixes and cleanup

• Seaside Framework
 latest release integrated

ObjectStudio 8.2
• Latest Foundation base with improvements (Cincom Smalltalk Foundation)
• Modeling Tool (comprehensive)
• The Modeling Tool allows a business architect to design, and generate the framework for, a software system, using this
powerful UML base tool

• Mapping Tool (revamped to use more powerful O-R mapping technology)
• Revamped to use more powerful O-R mapping technology
• The mapping tool allows and easy connection from relationship databases

• Windows message loop moved from C to Smalltalk
 ASends also handled in Smalltalk (Asynch msg sends)
 Fixed out-of-sequence events caused by debugger in classic

• Fixes/refinements
• New professionally designed logos & icons
• Vista Certified!

ObjectStudio 8.2.1
• Latest foundation tools and improvements (Cincom Smalltalk
Foundation 7.7.1)

• C to Smalltalk migration work
 Makes more customization accessible to customers

• Maintenance release
 Refinements, fixes

• Migration improvements
 Working with users to simplify upgrades

• Windows 7 Certified!

WebVelocity 1.0
• Unique Web based IDE
• Quickly build Db -> Web applications
 Fast and easy
 Supports complex object domains

• Core built from
 VisualWorks
 Seaside
 Glorp
 ActiveRecord pattern

WebVelocity 1.1
• Cloud Deployment release focus
 Allows creation of SaaS solutions
 Allows easy cloud based development
 Allows easy cloud deployment with Amazon Web Services
 Other web services possible
 Amazon RDS cloud Db supported

• Headless (no gui) deployment allows more deployment platforms
• Enhanced editing tools
• Collaborative editing
 See your remote teammate’s changes as they make them

• Foundation / Framework:
 Upgrade to Cincom Smalltalk Foundation 7.7
 Upgrade to Seaside 3.0

VisualWorks 7.7
• Foundation Upgrade
• Internationalization (CLDR based, Unicode standard)
 Going from 14 locales to hundreds

• 64 bit platforms major revamp
 Solaris
 Linux

• COM Revamp
 More easily integrate Windows capabilities into VisualWorks applications
 Tools

• COM ActiveX
• New professionally designed icons & logos
• Grid preview

VisualWorks 7.7.1

• Cincom Smalltalk tools and improvements
• WSDL 2.0 / SOAP 1.2
 Revamped to handle updated protocols

• Store improvements from foundation
 Heavily used by customers

• Project Launcher (LaunchPad)

What’s Next? - Foundation

• Windows 64 bit VM
• Continued Store improvements
• IPV6
• VM Signal handling
• SQLite for Store auto install

What’s Next? - ObjectStudio

• Mapping Tool
 GUI for freeform mapping
 Support more Glorp capability
 Improve integration with Modeling tool
• Modeling Tool
 Interaction diagramer
 Integrate pkgs/bundles/namespaces
 Enhance editors
 Build Wizards for model creation
 Save to XML-OMG Model Interchange format

What’s Next? - ObjectStudio

• Windows api / C to Smalltalk work continued
• Scriptable Installer
 Evaluating more flexible XML based installer
• Documentation
 Refresh documentation on areas of key updates
• GUI refresh

What’s Next? - VisualWorks
User interface work
•Cairo
•Pango
•Update looks
•Code refactor and simplification
•Better utilization of native platform

Continued work –
•WSDL 2.0 / SOAP 1.2 tools
•Internationalization
 Locale specific collation
 Collation performance improvements
 IME improvements

• Move to Production
 Polycephaly
 Grid (enhancement needed first)

• Code highlighting
• Autocomplete
• Interest:?
 Calendar Widget
 Multi-touch support
 OAuth
 XMPP

Longer Term

•Font & Text improvements
•UI Construction
•Improved widget architecture
•Opentalk-IIOP DST replacement
•Reified instance variables
•Protocol additions/updates (TLS, X509 …
•Sax based streaming

What’s Next?
Please tell us ….
Talk to us!
Customers and industry users should contact Cincom
Smalltalk Product management at:
athomas@cincom.com - Cincom is listening

Please send product management your
requirements, ideas and wishes!

Show and Tell

• LaunchPad
• WebVelocity in the Cloud

Thank You!

Cincom Smalltalk Contacts
• Arden Thomas - Product Manager
- athomas@cincom.com
• Suzanne Fortman – Program Director
- sfortman@cincom.com
• James Roberston – Product Evangelist
- jrobertson@cincom.com
• Jeremy Jordan – Marketing Manager
- jjordan@cincom.com

Cincom Smalltalk Roadmap 2010

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