Cincom Smalltalk Digest: July Edition

Welcome to the July 2023 edition of the Cincom Smalltalk Digest. In this edition, we will highlight:

CUSTOMERS and PARTNERS

• Instructions for Submitting New Cases to Cincom Smalltalk Support
• A Note of Appreciation from the Engineering and Support Staff 

BEGINNERS, FREELANCERS and DEVELOPERS

• Another Year of Celebration for a Premier Partner with Cincom
• Using Cincom Smalltalk as a Business Strategy Is a Wise Decision
• Who Can Candidate for the Cincom Smalltalk Personal Use License?
• Design Decisions

CUSTOMERS and PARTNERS

Instructions for Submitting New Cases to Cincom Smalltalk Support

For quick access to Cincom Smalltalk Support:

• Visit Cincom SupportWeb® for immediate support.
• Email HelpNA@cincom.com and EuroTSC@cincom.com to file new support cases.
• View Cincom Support Levels.
• Review the Cincom Smalltalk Resolutions Portal.

Reach out to the Cincom Smalltalk Product Team at CSSTARTeam@cincom.com if you have any further questions or comments.

A Note of Appreciation from the Engineering and Support Staff 

Customer comments on both completed and pending resolutions are greatly appreciated by Cincom Smalltalk Support and Engineering. Your feedback on a pending resolution ensures that it will be implemented in a future version of the product. Distributing the fix to the Cincom Smalltalk customer base is also simplified.

The Cincom Smalltalk team would like to extend a sincere “thank you!” to everyone who helps us improve our products through their input.

BEGINNERS, FREELANCERS and DEVELOPERS

Another Year of Celebration for a Premier Partner with Cincom

We are delighted to announce that Georg Heeg eK, our Premier Partner, recently celebrated its 36th anniversary. Georg Heeg eK was officially established and registered in the city of Dortmund, Germany on July 7, 1987.

Georg Heeg eK has been instrumental in the growth and adoption of Smalltalk over the past several years, and the company’s dedication to both Smalltalk and Cincom is a testament to the special relationship between the two organizations.

Georg Heeg eK became an official Cincom partner in 2000 and has since built a strong and valued relationship with Cincom by being a trusted partner in development, consulting, support, sales, marketing and as a Value Added Reseller.

Anyone who is familiar with Smalltalk is aware of the Heeg organization. The fact that they have so closely aligned with Cincom has had a significant impact on Smalltalk’s growth and profitability, and we look forward to future opportunities.

Cincom has benefited greatly from its collaboration with Georg Heeg eK. This relationship has not only resulted in revenue-generating projects over the years, but it has also helped to promote Cincom throughout the Smalltalk community and users worldwide.

Georg Heeg eK is well-known all over the world. Georg Heeg, the company’s founder and owner, travels the world as a speaker and advocate of Smalltalk, and he has an excellent business reputation as well as a passion for Smalltalk, particularly Cincom Smalltalk. He only works with Smalltalk and offers consulting, training, development, pre-sales and post-sales support.

Georg’s enthusiasm for Smalltalk, excellent business acumen, and desire to see Smalltalk and our valued relationships grow will only lead to future growth for Cincom and Cincom Smalltalk.

Happy Anniversary!

We sincerely wish Georg Heeg eK a very happy 36th anniversary and continued success in the many, many, many years ahead!

Using Cincom Smalltalk as a Business Strategy Is a Wise Decision

For executives, risk is always a consideration. A faulty choice may cause them to lose money, resources or employees, or even force them to shut down operations before they are ready. This duty is one of the many things that keeps CEOs up at night. They have to make choices that help the business succeed and grow so that workers can pay their bills and support their families without cutting costs elsewhere.

Recent research by Indeed.com, titled “12 Risks in Software Development,” identifies a number of potential threats to software development projects and suggests countermeasures to deal with them. A major problem is low production:

“… Sometimes, software development teams may struggle with productivity, which can happen because of delays, employee burnout and many other factors.”

Given the gravity of the situation, it seems logical that company executives would do well to take every precaution possible to minimize risk. The software industry now offers a wide variety of programming languages for application development. To lessen the likelihood of low productivity, companies should look for a system that may cut down on delays and make developers happy in the office.

When it comes to commercial Smalltalk, Cincom is a major player. Cincom Smalltalk provides a set of tools that can be used for any kind of application to help you maximize productivity, reduce costs and increase your return on investment as quickly as possible.

Smalltalk simplifies software development and boosts your company’s potential for growth and profit. With this easy-to-use development tool, you can quickly and safely generate value for your business.

The question is, “Why is Smalltalk so valuable?” Arden Thomas, the Cincom Smalltalk Product Manager and an experienced user, says:

“Smalltalk had a massive research and development investment in time, iterations and careful development, to create a language that is easier to use and understand. Smalltalk generally allows solving a problem more succinctly, and clearly, which allows less code to solve a problem.

“Less and clearer code is easier to understand and maintain, and costs less over the life cycle of a software application. The research and development investment in Smalltalk is likely unrivaled by any other language.”

• Visit https://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/main/solutions/decision-makers/ to read the “Pearls of Smalltalk” and find out more.

Who Can Candidate for the Cincom Smalltalk Personal Use License?

The Cincom Smalltalk Personal Use License (CST PUL) is for select candidates who want to evaluate a powerful commercial Smalltalk solution. Those who are curious about Cincom Smalltalk but aren’t sure if it’s the ideal fit for their company or application development needs can apply to be a candidate to evaluate this version. Please be aware that both Cincom® ObjectStudio® 8.9 and Cincom® VisualWorks® 8.3 are included in the current CST PUL.

Only active Cincom customers and partners are able to obtain the newest 9.3 version of Cincom Smalltalk. Please contact the Cincom Smalltalk STAR Team if you need the newest 9.3 version, and we will connect you with a salesperson who can provide you with the best pricing and licensing terms.

Design Decisions

Cincom Smalltalk novices and veterans alike can benefit from the Hidden Gems screencast series. These instructional videos show how to make the most of various Cincom Smalltalk features, including several “hidden gems” that significantly increase efficiency and productivity.

This “Build-it” Series covers techniques and discussions useful to developers and demonstrates some design decisions as well as coding techniques to implement them.

Some of the things demonstrated and discussed in this episode include:

• Ideas on simplification
• Minimal and clear messages
• printOn:
• Lazy evaluation
• Cache ideas 
• Recap

For review:

Part I – Hidden Gems: “Build It” Series discussed:

• The Federal Reserve Economic Data website
• Downloading data
• Parsing the data
• Best practices
• Improving the code

Part II – Hidden Gems: “Build It” Series included:

• Why an API?
• APIs available         
• API key           
• Examine the API specification
• Restful API  
• XML or JSON?

For data, we will use the Federal Reserve Economic Data website. This website supports downloading raw data and an API. We will demonstrate effective ways to use both.