Smalltalk Digest: August Edition

Welcome to the “Back to School” edition of the Cincom Smalltalk™ Digest. In this edition,  learn about the Academic Personal Use License,  our student internship program, a student project with enterprise implications, Smalltalks 2018 and a new Hidden Gems screencast by Arden Thomas. 

Who Should Use the Academic Personal Use License Version of Cincom Smalltalk?

So, you are probably wondering why we labeled this version of Digest as the “Back to School” edition.

This time of year is when students of all ages typically begin the next year of their educations.  Whether it’s small children in elementary school or university students, the months of August and September are when the institutions of higher learning open their doors for eager students to begin the next chapter of their educations.

To kick off the “Back to School” season, this month and next, we are highlighting our Academic version and the other academic programs we offer. To learn about the Cincom Smalltalk Academic Personal Use License (APUL), watch this short video of Suzanne Fortman, the Cincom Smalltalk Program Director and Engineering Manager:

Another program we are highlighting this month is our internship program. As you’ll read in the next story, students who use our software in their classes make some pretty amazing applications for their student projects. These students have a completely different perspective of the Smalltalk programming environment and could provide valuable insight that could benefit enterprises in many ways. Because Cincom is the leading provider of commercial Smalltalk and we have many enterprise customers, we can offer this program as both a resource to the student, as well as another valuable benefit to our customers. Listen to Suzanne talk about that program here:

Student Project Creates an Adaptable and Flexible Smalltalk Programming Environment for the Visually Impaired

FAST (Fundación Argentina de Smalltalk) is a non-profit foundation in Argentina that creates activities to promote the use of the Smalltalk programming language in all fields, including education and the software industry. At their annual conference, Suzanne Fortman learned about an amazing student-created application that prompted a new Smalltalk user story, as well as the creation of our Student Project Submission program. At Universidad Nacional de Quilmes in Buenos Aires, Argentina, two students, along with the backing of their professors, elected to tackle a challenge that was affecting their visually impaired classmates: integrating screen readers with Smalltalk.

The Lazaro Project is a student-created Smalltalk application made to enable visually impaired university students at the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes in Buenos Aires to learn object-oriented programming under the same conditions and with the same experiences as their sighted classmates. This project was a great example of what students can do when they see a need and work together to address it.

Professor Gabriela Arevalo said,

“The project was not only interesting for the challenge represented as a student project, but also because of the impact on our university community. Using this tool, blind students can study with minimal adaptations to the software and in the same timeframe as other students.”

Lazaro is a work in progress that has application within academia; however, Lazaro could easily be extended to other uses in the future. In business, for example, it could be used at organizations looking to add support for the visually impaired with a new application that integrates with their existing applications. This is what Suzanne saw during the presentation of Lazaro at the FAST. Conference, prompting her to say:

“I had the privilege to experience the students presenting the Lazaro application … and immediately recognized that their project would add value to several of Cincom’s Enterprise customers. These customers are looking for an application to support the visually impaired, which also seamlessly integrates with their Cincom Smalltalk applications.”

To read more, click here.

Salta, Argentina to Host Smalltalks 2018!

The 12^th Smalltalks Conference (Smalltalks 2018) will take place in Salta, Argentina on October 31 through November 2, and workshops are also being planned at the same location on October 29 and 30.  This free conference is a great opportunity to surround yourself with discussions on Smalltalk-based technologies, research and industry applications.

Click here to find out more about the conference including travel information, scholarship opportunities and how you can register or participate by giving a talk.  Information is also included on how to support FAST, who gives its support each year so that the free conference can take place and students and distinguished speakers can attend.

What Are Scripted Image Builds and Why Are They Useful?

Contribution from Arden Thomas, Cincom Smalltalk Product Manager

The purpose of the Hidden Gems Screencast is to give developers who use Cincom Smalltalk some valuable insight into the useful abilities of the products that may not be obvious.

In his blog, Robert Stroud, a Forrester Principal Analyst, wrote:

“In an era where velocity and agility are driving technology management organizations over simple cost reduction, every business must constantly evolve to drive business differentiation.” 

According to Stroud, cutting costs isn’t nearly as effective as changing things in your business that can improve speed and agility within your development operations. But, what are some things you can change to achieve this speed and agility?

In this month’s Hidden Gems Screencast, Arden demonstrates how to use a script to build, configure and save an image automatically. You can use scripts like this for building development images for the team, building product or just configuring your favorite setup. This technique is great for saving time and building an image in the same manner consistently.

Please watch the video below:

Please send feedback, comments and suggestions to Arden Thomas, athomas@cincom.com.

Cincom Smalltalk Stories

Each Thursday, we highlight a different Cincom Smalltalk story on Facebook and Twitter using the trending hashtag #ThursdayThoughts.

Recently, we highlighted:

• Cincom Smalltalk Helps Start-up Deliver Web Application for Event Management
• Innovative Cincom® VisualWorks® Application Leads to a Historical Discovery about a Famous Composer
• SUISA uses Cincom® ObjectStudio® to Harmonize Music and Money with Web-Enabled Mainframe Applications

Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for these and other updates throughout the month.