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GNU Smalltalk User's Guide

GNU Smalltalk User's Guide

This document describes installing and operating the GNU Smalltalk programming language.

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Introduction		What GNU Smalltalk is.
1. Using GNU Smalltalk		Running GNU Smalltalk.
2. Features of GNU Smalltalk		A description of GNU Smalltalk's special features.
3. Interoperability between C and GNU Smalltalk		GNU Smalltalk's C/Smalltalk interoperability features.
4. Tutorial		An introduction to Smalltalk and OOP.
5. Future directions for GNU Smalltalk		Tasks for GNU Smalltalk's subsequent releases. Volunteers to help out in performing some of these tasks would be greatly appreciated. Please see this node to find out what you can do to help make GNU Smalltalk a truly winning system.

--- The detailed node listing ---

Invocation:

1.1 Command line arguments		What you can specify on the command line.
1.2 Startup sequence		A step-by-step description of the startup process and a short description of how to interact with GNU Smalltalk.
1.3 Syntax of GNU Smalltalk		A description of the input file syntax
1.4 Running the test suite		How to run the test suite system.

Features:

2.1 Memory accessing methods		The direct memory accessing classes and methods.
2.2 Namespaces		Avoiding clashes between class names.
2.3 Disk file-IO primitive messages		Methods for reading and writing disk files.
2.4 The GNU Smalltalk ObjectDumper		Methods that read and write objects in binary format.
2.5 Special kinds of object		Methods to assign particular properties to objects.
2.6 Dynamic loading		Picking external libraries and modules at run-time.
2.7 Packages		An easy way to install Smalltalk code into an image.

Packages

2.7.1 Blox		GNU Smalltalk's user interface building blocks.
2.7.2 The Smalltalk-in-Smalltalk compiler		A Smalltalk compiler written in itself.
2.7.3 Internationalization and localization support		Lets GNU Smalltalk program be fully internationalized and localized
2.7.5 TCP, WebServer, NetClients		An interface to TCP/IP and UDP, to be used either locally or on the Internet, and other aids in writing networked applications.
2.7.6 An XML parser and object model for GNU Smalltalk		An XML parser and Document Object Model.
2.7.7 Minor packages		Various interesting modules.

C and Smalltalk:

3.1 Linking your libraries to the virtual machine
3.2 Using the C callout mechanism		Calls from Smalltalk to C.
3.3 The C data type manipulation system		Manipulating C data from Smalltalk.
3.4 Manipulating Smalltalk data from C
3.5 Calls from C to Smalltalk
3.8 Using the Smalltalk environment as an extension library
3.9 Incubator support		Protecting newly created objects from garbage collections.

Tutorial:

4.1 Getting started		Starting to explore GNU Smalltalk
4.2 Using some of the Smalltalk classes
4.3 The Smalltalk class hierarchy
4.4 Creating a new class of objects
4.5 Two Subclasses for the Account Class		Adding subclasses to another class
4.6 Code blocks		Control structures in Smalltalk
4.7 Code blocks, part two		Guess what? More control structures
4.8 When Things Go Bad		Things go bad in Smalltalk too!
4.9 Coexisting in the Class Hierarchy		Coexisting in the class hierarchy
4.10 Smalltalk Streams		Something really powerful
4.11 Some nice stuff from the Smalltalk innards
4.12 Some final words
4.13 A Simple Overview of Smalltalk Syntax		For the most die-hard computer scientists