Quick Start Guide
Hello, welcome to Smalltalk/X !
When ST/X is started initially, it opens two windows for you: the Launcher and a Workspace
(in which you will probably read this text right now).
The Launcher is your central place to open other smalltalk tools and to display status information and
information messages.
Workspaces are little editor-like windows,
into which code can be typed for immediate evaluation
and which is to be thrown away later (i.e. usually not for writing code which is to be kept longer).
To extend the system by writing new code, the SystemBrowser tool is used (which is described later).
Things you should do now:
- Adjust the settings to your personal style
-
Look & Feel:
-
ST/X supports multple viewStyles, which more or less mimic
existing Window Systems (Windows, Motif, Irix etc.).
The viewStyle can be changed via the Launcher's
"System - Settings - ViewStyle"-dialog.
Currently, the prettiest styles are the 'mswindowsxp' and 'mswindowsvista' styles - even for non XP systems.
-
Font:
-
If you work a lot with non-latin1 characters (i.e. cyrillic, japanese etc.),
select an appropriate unicode font (use the font-selection dialog from either the
Launcher or via a TextViews popupMenu). Notice that many unicode fonts do not
include the full set of characters (look at the "Hello"-page to check).
-
Editor:
-
The editor's behavior can be adjusted in many ways. These settings are found
in the Launcher's "System"-"Settings"- dialog, under the "Tools"-"Editor" page.
For example, tabulators can be changed to be either multiples of 4 or 8;
Have a look at the other settings there too.
Keyboard focus behavior and some performance related
drawing options are adjusted in "System-Settings-Misc".
-
Keyboard & Shurtcuts:
-
The default keyboard mapping is described in the Keyboard.wsp workspace.
The Launcher's settings dialog also contains a page which displays (but does not
allow to change) the current keyboard mapping.
If you don't like it, have a look (and edit) the 'keyboard.rc' file.
This file is consulted at startup time and can also be reloaded after a change
via the fileBrowser's "fileIn"-function.
-
Language:
-
For lack of resources and language competence, only German, English and Spanish
are fully supported. A lot of Chinese and some rudimentary French, Italian etc. are present,
but definitely not complete.
Notice, that some of the existing translations are only provided to give a hint
on how it is done and to give editors something to start with (read "be nice" at the end).
All language strings are found in the
"lib*/resources/*.rs"
-files;
there you will find per-package translations for individual languages.
Language files can be edited either in any unicode-aware editor, or the ST/X fileBrowser,
or the ST/X language tool which can be opened via the Launcher's "System"-menu.
If you add or fix anything there, we would be very happy,
if you'd send us your changes - we will incorporate them into the next release.
Make sure that your chosen font is able to display those characters
(especially if you edit Greek, Russian or a far-east language translations).
Sorry: ST/X does not (yet) support right-to-left text display
(i.e. Hebrew and Arabic). Be patient - maybe someone pays us to do it in the future.
-
Recommended:
-
After you have changed your preferences, save them (a file named "settings.stx" will be written.
Otherwise, the settings are only used for the current session.
Also, you should save a snapshot image (Launchers "File-Save Image" menu)
for faster startup the next time.
You can always start ST/X with the "-I" command line argument to
ignore the snapshot image and force a fresh start. Or, start with "-i " to resume an
older saved state.
- Learn to use some of the Tools
The most useful ones are:
Get used to them.
As a beginner, please read the "Tutorial for Beginners"
in the online documentation. This describes enough of the tools and smalltalk language for
a smooth start.
By the way: to reopen a window containing this text, open a workspace
and select the "New System Workspace" item in its "File" menu.
Alternatively, press the Launcher's workspace icon and wait for the pull down menu to appear
(keep the button pressed).
- Learn Smalltalk / Write little demo programs
See the "Reading List" in the online documentation;
we recommend reading Ivan Tomek's interactive
"Introduction to ST".
These documents can also be reached via the "Help - Online Documentation" menu of the Launcher.
Then proceed to the "Reading List" and have a look for the Programmers Documentation.
- Save your work
Save a snapshot (launchers "File-Save Image" menu) and/or fileOut your classes from
time to time. Have a look at the ChangesBrowser, which is your life saver in case of
desaster.
- Communicate
Talk to others - there is a very active Smalltalk community.
See comp.lang.smalltalk, various Smalltalk related webSites and various mailing lists.
We have also setup an ST/X specific forum at "forum.exept.de".
- Be Nice
If you are able to provide translations for the UI (menu items, labels and strings),
I would be very happy, if you'd sit down for an hour or so, type in the translations,
for greek, russian, etc. and send me the result.
See the files under the 'lib*/resources' directories for how this is done, and what is missing.
Even fragments will help - I'll merge them into the next release.
Think about returning something this way - you get ST/X for free, so an hour or so
should not be too much time to spend.
- Don't Panic
- Always
Have fun