CSE 341 -- Hints for using Smalltalk in the PC Lab

Here are some hints for using Smalltalk in the PC Lab.

Logging on

Log in to a PC (in room 232) as usual. (To log onto the PCs type: CTRL-ALT-DEL (all at once) you then get a prompt. Use your ordinary CS login name and password; see support if you have difficulties). Be sure you log into the CSEPCLAB domain.

Setting up Smalltalk

Before you can use Smalltalk/Express, you need to copy a couple of working files to your PC account home directory. Do not use the `Smalltalk/Express' menu option under the `Start' menu!

From the `My Computer' icon, find your home directory (mine is under `\\ifilesrv1\students', which you may need to map [to drive Z:, perhaps] by right-clicking on `My Computer' and selecting `Map Network Drive'. ).

Once you have a window with your home directory open, create a new folder (a subdirectory) with the name `smalltalk' -- do this using the menu option `File -> New -> Folder'.

Now you must copy the two files in the folder

        \\ifilesrv1\students\gjb\st-images

into the directory `smalltalk' you just created. You can just select the `gjb' folder from the `\\ifilesrv1\students' window (you'll have to map that network share if your home directory is elsewhere), then select the `st-images' folder from the `gjb' window. A new window with two files (V.exe and Vw.exe) will appear. You should select both of these icons (by CTRL-selecting the second, or using CTRL-A to select all) and then RIGHT-Mouse-Drag to copy into the folder `smalltalk' that you created (as a subdirectory of your home directory). Be sure that when you release the RIGHT mouse button, you choose "Copy here".

Now double click on your "smalltalk" folder. A window should open showing the two icons you just copied. They should be labeled "V.exe" and "Vw.exe"; if they are labelled "Shortcut to..." you have mistakenly created shortcut links, and you should the delete the shortcuts, and try copying the files again --- be sure to use the right mouse button when you drag the files from the `st-images' directory to your `smalltalk' directory and ensure that you select "Copy here".

You may want to make another copy of the "V.exe" file in your `smalltalk' directory -- consider calling it "V-orig.exe". The "V" binary is your smalltalk image and is changed as you introduce code into your Smalltalk environment; you may want to go back to a fresh image if you made uninintentional changes while you were just playing around.

Finally, you need to update your NT Environment "path" variable to point at the `c:\apps\stexpres' directory since many needed supporting files are located there. Choose `Start -> Settings -> Control Panel' from the start menu. Then select the system icon which will pop up the system properties dialog box. Select the `Environment' tab and scroll down in the `User Variables for ...:' window until you see the variable named `path'. Single click on that row, and the two text entry boxes at the bottom of the `System properties' dialog will reflect your selection: the `Variable' text line should have the entry "path", and the `Value' text line should have some list of semicolon-separated directories.

You need to add `;c:\apps\stexpres' to the `Value' text line. When finished with this step, mine reads:

       d:\MSDEV\BIN;%path%;C:\apps\stexpres

Pressing or clicking `Set' will commit these changes. You can now click `Ok' to dismiss the `System Properties' Dialog box.

Starting Smalltalk

Once you have done the above setup steps, starting Smalltalk is easy: just open your `smalltalk' folder and double click on the "Vw.exe" icon (not the "V.exe" icon).

You can create a shortcut to your copy of Vw.exe for your start menu if you'd like.

The Files that Smalltalk Uses

For the setup directions above to make sense, you should understand a bit about which different files Smalltalk uses. The Smalltalk environment image is called "V.exe". This is a large file (over 1 megabyte) which contains all the code for the Smalltalk system, both all the classes that come with the system when you start it up, and also any new classes or modifications that you make.

You can inspect the source code for all of the methods provided by the system, as well as the source code for the methods that you write. This source code is stored in separate files (not in the image). The source code for the methods provided by the system is in the sources.sml file. This is a read-only file stored in:

C:\apps\stexpres\sources.sml

Your source code, for both system classes that you modify and new classes that you write, is in your change.log file which is kept in your `smalltalk' folder (or whatever folder you started `Vw.exe' from). All users need to have their own private changes file. The system will automatically put all your new code in this changes file.

Finally, you can explicitly `file-out' a class or a category of classes, and put the code into a file. This will be a small text file, which you save on another machine, `file-in' to a fresh image, etc. (We'll call these fileout files.) Also this is the file that you should print out (or maybe email; details later) to hand in for your assignments.

Using Smalltalk/Express from home

You can download a copy of Smalltalk/Express from the class ftp site: STEXPRES.ZIP (about 3 MB big!). This is a pkzip archive that you can install at home using (get pkunzip.exe if you don't already have it):

    c:
    mkdir smalltalk
    cd smalltalk
    ftp ftp.cs.washington.edu
    # Use username "anonymous", password of your email address
    ftp> cd courses/cse341       # you do not type in the `ftp> '
    ftp> binary
    ftp> get STEXPRES.ZIP
    ftp> quit
    pkunzip -d STEXPRES.ZIP

Then you can execute "Vw.exe" directly from that directory. Remember to change your "path" environment variable if you will be running "Vw.exe" from directories other than the directory in which you uncompressed the STEXPRES.ZIP file. Should you ever want (or need!) a fresh image, you can get it here: V.EXE (about 1.3MB).

Changing Your Password; Logging out from NT

To change your password, type CTRL-ALT-DEL (all at once) in any window. This will bring up a dialog box that lets you change your password. Another use is to see what tasks you have running -- this is useful, for example, if you can't log off due to some task currently running.

To log out from Windows NT go to the file menu of the program manager and choose "Logout". If that somehow doesn't seem to work it may be the case that you still have applications running. You should then first close those and then try again.

gjb@cs.washington.edu (Last Update: 30-March-1998)