We are happy to announce version 5.0 of the Moose Suite: http://moosetechnology.org/#install
Description
This is by far the most extensive Moose release to date. Just take a look at these two trailers:
The key highlights are:
- It is based on Pharo 3.0.
- Roassal2 is a complete reimplementation of the core visual engine of Moose.
- Roassal2 replaced Roassal, EyeSee and Graph-ET, and it features many new things including smooth animations, new composeable builders and several new layouts.
- All built-in Moose visualizations use Roassal2.
- Glamour has been extended with a Pager browser and with Rubric as the main text editor.
- GTSpotter is a new tool that makes it possible to find objects fast.
- GTInspector saw major usability improvements based on the Pager browser, and it now comes with many object specific extensions.
- GTPlayground provides a new way to handle scripts and when combined with GTInspector, it can replace the dedicated easels and editors.
- Moose Finder has been extended with the ability of handling in place visualizations.
- GTDebugger has been strengthen and was made more robust.
- PetitParser has been extended with the notion of context which enables elegant island parsing.
A list of issues addressed in this release can be found on the issue tracker.
Installation
The Moose Suite 5.0 comes for each platform as a separate bundle:
The Moose Suite 5.0 can also be loaded in a Pharo 3.0 image either from the Configuration Browser, or by executing the following script:
Gofer new
smalltalkhubUser: 'Moose' project: 'Moose';
configuration;
loadStable
Happy holidays!
The Moose team
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of giving a one-day course to PhD students on the topic of Demo-driven innovation. The course was organized as a CUSO (Conférence universitaire de Suisse occidentale).
I got to work with highly motivated students and argue my way through the demo-driven philosophy.
We started from debating what innovation is and what role it plays in both research and engineering. We agreed that innovation is less about discovering the fantastic, as it is about revealing the obvious.
Then we tackled the problem of the process of research. Finding a complete process to such a complex problem is difficult, but focusing on the most basic problem is a doable first step. We concluded that the most important research challenge is not the fight against nature, but against our own entrenched assumptions.
The argumentation went on: To fight our own assumptions we have to expose them and get feedback. But, feedback comes only from interested people. And it is hard to get people interested in a subject that is not their own. The most effective way to capture the attention and later on the imagination is through stories.
Not fairy tales. Stories. Stories make facts valuable. They capture attention and spark imagination. And the more palpable they are, the better their impact is. In other words, we should strive to demo our story. Especially in a field such as computer science, making stories palpable is both accessible and beneficial.
When demos tell stories, magic things happen. On the one hand, the audience gets more involved. On the other hand, the very implementation of the demo provides a tremendous feedback. We are syntactic creatures, and the look of ideas matters a great deal to us.
And no, there is no such thing as an un-demoable topic.
Next week, on December 13, I will have the pleasure of giving a keynote and tutorial around humane assessment and Moose at the Be Fast & Curious event in Cluj, Romania.
The event is organized by 3Pillar Global. This is the first time that I am talking about these topics in Romanian, so this will actually pose a little challenge. But, considering the fact that the event poster has my head on it, I will certainly enjoy it.
If you are in the neighborhood, come and join us (the registration is free).