3 ms·

Well, in terms of speed, the programming language benchmarks game indicates VW is way faster than Pharo. See https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchm

by Qem 5y ago

Well, in terms of speed, the programming language benchmarks game indicates VW is way faster than Pharo. See https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksgame/fastest/vw-pharo.html https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksgame/... I'm curious about what VW does different to be so fast, given the Cog virtual machine used by Pharo and Squeak is regarded as a small work of art, and is quite fast itself (at least way faster than Python). I hope the next iteration of the VM (called Sista) finally beats VW Smalltalk.

igouy 5y ago
Note "cpu load" — Cincom Smalltalk provides a way to use multi core. Note as-of July 2021 on Quora — "… started working together on Sista in 2012. We were able to demonstrate speed ups of around three fold but it remains a prototype, needing about one or two years of development to yield a production quality implementation."
- smackeyacky 5y ago
  The smalltalk development efforts on both squeak and pharo seem pretty dead. I went back for another crack at VisualWorks after this blog post. Part of the original frustration I had was just not being in a Smalltalk mode of working. I am enjoying it more and resumed work on the aws browser with more success after I relearned some old habits.
  - Qem 5y ago
    IMHO both communities are small, but very active for their size. The only that appears "dead" for me is GNU-Smalltalk. At least the versions in Debian and Debian-based distro repositories look barely maintaned. I could not get their class browser working anymore. You can see lots of complaints about it on the web, and the issue persists for years.
    - smackeyacky 5y ago
      OK - perhaps I didn't look hard enough - will go back through their links to forums etc.
  - igouy 5y ago
    On linux, I think the XFT parcels are a requirement for legible text on VW Smalltalk.
    - smackeyacky 5y ago
      I didn't have any trouble with the legibility of the text on Debian Buster using Gnome. There are the occasional screen glitches with things like the tree view but mostly the experience on Windows and Linux is identical, which is the same as it was 25 years ago on Sun workstations.
  - scroot 5y ago
    On the contrary, both communities are very active. Pharo and Squeak both have active mailing lists with dozens of messages each day, and the Pharo community maintains a very lively Discord server

by Qem 5y ago

igouy 5y ago

Note "cpu load" — Cincom Smalltalk provides a way to use multi core. Note as-of July 2021 on Quora — "… started working together on Sista in 2012. We were able to demonstrate speed ups of around three fold but it remains a prototype, needing about one or two years of development to yield a production quality implementation."

smackeyacky 5y ago
The smalltalk development efforts on both squeak and pharo seem pretty dead. I went back for another crack at VisualWorks after this blog post. Part of the original frustration I had was just not being in a Smalltalk mode of working. I am enjoying it more and resumed work on the aws browser with more success after I relearned some old habits.
- Qem 5y ago
  IMHO both communities are small, but very active for their size. The only that appears "dead" for me is GNU-Smalltalk. At least the versions in Debian and Debian-based distro repositories look barely maintaned. I could not get their class browser working anymore. You can see lots of complaints about it on the web, and the issue persists for years.
  - smackeyacky 5y ago
    OK - perhaps I didn't look hard enough - will go back through their links to forums etc.
- igouy 5y ago
  On linux, I think the XFT parcels are a requirement for legible text on VW Smalltalk.
  - smackeyacky 5y ago
    I didn't have any trouble with the legibility of the text on Debian Buster using Gnome. There are the occasional screen glitches with things like the tree view but mostly the experience on Windows and Linux is identical, which is the same as it was 25 years ago on Sun workstations.
- scroot 5y ago
  On the contrary, both communities are very active. Pharo and Squeak both have active mailing lists with dozens of messages each day, and the Pharo community maintains a very lively Discord server