New Features in ST/X

This page lists new major features which may be of interest in chronological order.
Minor enhancements, features and fixes are not listed here. Major bug fixes are listed in the "Release Notes".
Documentation updates are found in "What's New in the Documentation".

Rel7.1.0

• more command line options for easier scripting
• GraphicContext-specifics separated into a separate GC object (View hierarchy cleanup).
• new (scheme-like) syntax for literal-integer and literal float arrays:
  #xx(...) an array literal of special type;
  xx must be one of:
    u1 (BitArray), u8 (ByteArray), u16 (WordArray), u32 (IntegerArray), u64 (LongIntegerArray),
    s8 (SignedByteArray), s16 (SignedWordArray), s32 (SignedIntegerArray), s64 (SignedLongIntegerArray),
    f32 (FloatArray), f64 (DoubleArray)
  in addition, the following shortcuts (alternative names) are supported:
    #f (FloatArray = f32); #d (DoubleArray = f64); #b (BitArray = u1)
  currently, this syntax is disabled by default (see ParserFlags >> allowSTXExtendedArrayLiterals) and not yet fully supported by the stc compiler.
• infoPrint, debugPrint and errorPrint now delegate to a Logger, if there is any
• new tool: ExternalStreamMonitor
• new feature in process monitor: "terminate all like this"
• more lint checks and fixes in existing rules
• more detail in many lint rules (in the lint result viewer)
• PNGReader supports TRNS chunk (transparency)
• ICO/CUR formats fixed in WindowsICOReader
• MacOSXIconReader fixed and improved (supports more formats)
• new WBMPReader added (for mobile devices icons)
• ImageEditor got many new functions and some bug fixes
• many fixes and improvements in the base classes (Semaphore, RecursionLock, Processor, OSProcess etc.)
• VersionDiffBrowser got nice filters to make comparisons of whole packages easier (among other improvements)
• selector and text filter in the system browser's methodlist.
• more menu functions in the file browser's "Tools" menu
• improved REPL (non-GUI mode)
• high resolution timetamps and timeDurations

Rel6.2.5

• much better code completion and explainer info
• improved language translation tool
• autoloading of packages (see "Settings" - "System" - "Autoloaded Packages")
• PNGReader supports many more formats
• BMPReader supports many more formats
• 64bit Windows version (preRelease)
• JPEGReader can now also save images
• Timestamp can now represent timestamps before the epoch 1970 and after the unix endtime at 2039 (i.e. we are prepared for the y2039 problem)
• Timestamp iso8601 reader also supports weekday formats and utc offsets.
• Added TZTimestamp which preserves its original timezone information
• Time now supports millisecond precision
• Date can now represent dates before 1900 and after 2039
• Date printing supports some roman options (for hungaria, romania and poland)
• 64bit MAC-OSX version (10.6 and later, gcc or clang, using XQuartz)
• Runs on RaspberryPI / Ubuntu
• 64bit Linux version
• Full support for negative zero (might be needed by some math algorithms)
• New easy to use package loading UI ("Launcher-Menu" - "File" - "Load Package")

Rel6.2.4

• support for "almost the same" comparison in Float
• support for huge collections in SegmentedOrderedCollection and VirtualArray
• more breakpoint filters in the debugger
• new token delimited comments
• improved scripting support
• improved javaScript and java integration
• improved mercurial SCM integration
• improved smallsense integration
• initial port of the SWF (flash) file reader and writer (basil)

Rel6.2.3

• ported Vassili Bykov's Announcements package (in "goodies/announcements")
• package loading speedup and fixed prerequisite package loading
• all class libraries can now be compiled with mingw (mingwmake)
• "Thrift IDL support" (in "goodies/thrift")
• Cassandra Database interface (in "libdb/nosql/cassandra")
• GOODS Database interface (in "libdb/nosql/goods")
• improved monticello packager (includes extra ST/X files)
• additional lint checks for collection protocol usage and dialect compatibility
• fixes and improvements in the line-breakpoint handling
• per process debug/halt enabling & disabling (see browser's debug menu)
• count method invocations per receiver class in browser's debug menu
• timestamping of transcript messages (see launcher's debug menu)
• fixed and improved the VT100 terminal emulator (and TerminalApplication)
• improved break- and tracepoint handling in the system browser, debugger abd breakpoint browser
• improved code completion (better guessing, especially in the debugger)
• improved code correction when accepting invalid code (better suggestions)
• many additional useful menu operations here and there (workspace, debugger, launcher, file browser)

Rel6.2.2

• coverage analysis fixed and enhanced
• enhancements in the browser
• improved windows-menu in the launcher
• all class libraries can now be compiled with msvc (vcmake)
• regex package (in goodies) fixed for unicode

Rel6.2.1

• stc option to generate error & warning messages in gcc format (for hudsun log parsing)
• sunit can generate junit compatible xml reports (for hudsun)
• improved codeview in the browser
• improved workspace
• improved filebrowser (tags, directory-diff viewer)
• debug/trace for Transcript messages (Launcher's Class-Debug menu)
• improved debugger menu / can selectively ignore halts for some time/count
• improved method finder
• improved window menu in the launcher
• begin monticello support in browser
• begin multi source code manager supported (mercurial, p4,...)
• libcrypt: xtea fixed; tea, rc6, carmellia, mcd2Des, serpent, sha224, sha384 and sha512 added;
  libcrypt compiles with msvc
• syntaxhighlighter highlights side effect assignments (turn off via settings)
• more lint rules, better embedded lint viewer
• some compiler warnings can be disabled on a per-method basis
• loggia logging package

Rel6.1.2

• Integrated Jan Vrany's enhancements
• Support Method Annotations
• XML-RPC Supports V3 protocol (nil, i8)

Rel6.1.1

• MOP support (which adds a slot to Behavior and Context; therefore the major version change)

Rel5.4.7

• LDAP library in "stx:goodies/net/ldap"
• XMLRPC Server and Client (stx:goodies/xml/xmlrpc)

Rel5.4.6

• Magritte ported and added to goodies
• SVN repository support (a package can live in both an SVN and a CVS repository) (thanks to Jan Vrany)
• SourceCodeManager and multilanguage-support (Ruby, ST, JS) cleanup
• Standalone Application Builder and Packager (ProjectBuilder Assistant)
• A number of browser enhancements (pseudo categories, class wizard, better dialogs)
• Regex string-constants in code search
• PNG file writing support
• Rdoit for windows
• Nicer vista-viewStyle
• Breakpoints can be temporarily-disabled (time- or count)
• New VM command line flag: --immutableLiterals
• Win32: more widestring apis supported (file operations with unicode names)

Rel5.4.5

• Win32: Smalltalk/X now runs with Data Execution Prevention enabled
• Win32: stx.com starts Smalltalk in a console window, stx.exe without console. winstx.exe is gone.

Rel5.4.4

• Win32: Oldspace limit increased to 512Mb
• FixedPoint literals (i.e. 10.23s2) now also supported by stc
• Remote scripting support with "--scripting" command line argument (i.e. rdoit-telnet with JS syntax)
• Win32: splash screen can be hidden by pressing ESCAPE or CTRL-C

Rel5.4.3

• CodeView menu functions to insert as string literal
• Unicode support: input methods, window title, file-names and attributes (Please read the "Compatibility Notes")
• FilenameWidgetWithHistory fixes and improvements
• Splash banner now shown by VM (earlier)
• "--console" command line argument

Rel5.4.2

• Abbreviation/Snippet support improved

Rel5.4.1

• New Debugger feature: flyBy info on variable-values
• New Transcript feature: autoraise
• New tool: BreakPoint Browser
• Win32: Support Windows Mutex

Rel5.3.9

• Windows INIFile reader/writer
• Tip of the Day
• Thanks to Felix, spanish is now almost completely supported
• More Workspace improvments (myWorkspace)
• Support for symbolic fonts in UIPainter
• New Debugger feature: skip-ignore halt/breakPoint
• New ImageEditor features: circles & spray

Rel5.3.8

• CodeCompletion improved
• DebugMenu of browser reorganized
• New class for standAlone apps: GetOpt
• Support for symbolic colors in UIPainter/Views

Rel5.3.7

• More UIPainter and ColorMenu improvements

Rel5.3.6

• UIPainter, DataSetBuilder and ColorMenu improvements
• NewChangesBrowser fixes & improvements
• Improved Workspaces (snippets, sharedPool visible in doIt, sharedPool inspector)

Rel5.3.5

• Improved Workspaces (menu, new functions, myWorkspace)
• Application- and LibraryDefinition for automatic deployable-package generation

Rel5.3.2

• Indicate Focus-State in SelectionInListView.
• Better drawing of items with icon in Menus/MenuPanels.

Rel5.3.1

• New class library naming scheme
• many more project support functions in the browser
• support for the generation of deployment packages
• Win32: native printing support
• Win32: some fixes for dual screen operation
• new external library function binding mechanism supported by stc

Rel5.2.9

• Glorp update (0.4)
• new external library function binding mechanism
• generate makefiles from the browser

Rel5.2.8

• Browser: some refactorings on SHIFT-code-menu; better project support; build features
• MenuEditor: added menuSlices.
• SharedPool support added.

Rel5.2.7

• Notebook/TabView: destroy buttons
• ImageEditor: can edit trueColor bitmaps
• WebServer: FCGI support
• ODBC support bugfixed and improved (threaded, nonBlocking API for Win32)
• Sort functions in all editors (more->tools->sort menu item)
• Win32: Mozilla & IE browser plugin support
• Linux: Mozilla browser plugin support

Rel5.2.6 - official release

• Bug fixes in the Windows version: sockets, externalStream and hostName code fixed; cleanup when interrupting/aborting threaded API-calls.
• Bug fixes in the VM dynamic library loading code

Rel5.2.5

• SharedPools are now supported (added to allow easier porting of non-ST/X Smalltalk code).
• STT can be configured for either Squeak- or ST/X-dialect code syntax
• First partial support for native win32 widgets (for now, only ScrollBars)
• Support undecorated and toolBar window styles (win32)
  See examples in TopView class » examples.
• Button and focus event handling fixes in the win32 version
• Better win-XP look

Rel5.2.2

• MenuSlices added.
• SHIFT-middleButtonMenu in browser's codeView added (variable-rename etc.)

Rel5.2.1

• Unicode support.
• Damage event handling improved.
• xpSwiki added to webServer.
• FileBrowser improved (is now almost a usable unicode editor !)

Rel5.1.6

• HTTPServer/HTTPService: reply generation via a presenter for flexible layout of (corporate identity).
• Bug fixes in the Windows version: blocking api-call interrupt handling, exception handling (SEGV).
• FontPanel fixed and enhanced; Font handling and unicode support enhanced.
• Bug fixes in 32bit File-I/O API (seek, stat, etc.); added support for 64 bit API.

Rel5.1.5

• More HTTPServer tuning, refactoring & improvements.
  SWIKI can now be linked anywhere below the servers root (books had to be under "/" before). Swikis can now even be linked deep inside a fileServices tree.
  Swiki Service has now only one link name and all of its books are below that.
  CGI callout support.
  HTTP Utilities: a page counter
• Bug fixes in the Windows version: command-execution, redraw bug, drag&drop, handle leak.

Rel5.1.4

• HTTPServer url Parameter and post data field values are in a collection
• HTTPServer performance tuning.
• STC compiler generates new (more compact) code for literal arrays
• More refactorings in the HTTPService hierarchy.
• Multipane Terminal Application.

Rel5.1.3 - internal (tag only) release

Rel5.1.2 - official release

• Mostly bug fixes, enhancements and code cleanup.
• SIXX (XML-Object exchange) package ported (2 testCases still fail).

Rel5.1.1

• Stream positioning is now 0-based.
  For backward compatibility, position1Based/position0Based methods are still provided.
• Class layout changed (removed unused slots)
• Number class LongFloat (80/128 bit floats) now fully implemented on systems which offer extended floats.
• SmaCC Compiler-Compiler fully working, including UI.
• Much improved HTTPServer:
  • better framework for http-services; common handling of action-services and PWS-services.
  • allow to start the same service twice under different link names.
  • read header and process requests in separate threads.
  • new services: WebSlides, SourceCode Access, DemoShop
  • Comanche STT support (Smalltalk Templates)
• RDoit supports Unix domain sockets.
• RBFormatter fixed to better handle comments (still not perfect, but much better)
• NewSystemBrowser: many improvements: code search, multi-var search, multi-sender search, selective rewrite when renaming a method.

Rel4.1.9

• Restructuring of the HTTPServer and friends; now HTTPServices are much easier to add/remove. Also, the ST/X homePage, maintenance etc. are plugged services and easier to configure.
• Much better HTTPServer administration in the Launcher's settings dialog
• XML-Xpath and XSL support

Rel4.1.8

• Tuning in the NewSystemBrowser
• ported the ComancheSwiki from Squeak. This is now the default Swiki offered in the ST/X-HTTPServer.

Rel4.1.7 - official release

Rel4.1.6

• More examples on how to generate stand alone (also: headless) applications are provided under the projects directory. To start, look at "projects/helloWorld" . Sorry windows users: we do not (yet) provide the makefiles for non-unix systems - win32 users who want to generate binares have to wait or manually create a makefile.
• SOAP package included
• Another XML parser: YAXO
• HTTP-Server can now be started multiple times (for example, to allow for HTTP SWIKI and SOAP to be served on different ports.
• improved (pluggable) settings dialog

Rel4.1.5

• regex package upgraded (see RxParser whatsNewInThisRelease)
• cleanup, bug fixes and added features in the NewSystemBrowser
• many bug fixes in various widgets
• view style beautifications for winXP
• textDrag from/to textViews (with or without CTRL-key)
• delayed menu (stay pressed on the Launcher's SystemBrowser Icon...)
• improved FileBrowser, MenuEditor, BitmapEditor
• improved Workspace (automatic WorkspaceVariables)

Rel4.1.4

• flyByHelp support
• codeView menus reorganized
• fixed win32 stc flags for accepting primitives in the browser (for borland-c)
• MethodFinder ported from Squeak (see Launchers Classes-Special Menu)
• win32 version now correctly handles stack overflow (recursion interrupts)
• more browser and changeSet enhancements
• accept: remove unused vars; declare inst & class vars.
• win32 wrap-call fixes (more non blocking API calls)
• win32 display improvements & resize bug fixes (minimize/maximize)

Rel4.1.3 - official release

Rel4.1.2 - published

• MenuPanel got scroll-buttons (and therefore also: ComboBox and ComboList)
• ChangeBrowser & ChangeSetBrowser enhanced; multiple select, main menu etc.
• Workspace enhanced; main menu, mult-pages, embedded inspect etc.
• old SystemBrowser: added a main menu (to make switch to newBrowser easier)
• stc VW compatibility fix: correctly scans float constants with embedded d (i.e. 1.0d100)

Rel4.1.1

• 16bit unicode string support for win32 version
• can be compiled/used with the free borland compiler tools (bcc55)
• can now be executed multiple times under win32
• winstx.exe (non-console version of stx.exe) works again (win32 only)
• save a crash-image on SIGPWR signal (unix only)
• scripting support. You can now use Smalltalk/X scripts much like tcl, awk, perl or any other scripting language (see README_ALSO and demos in goodies/rdoit).
• SourceCodeManager supports multiple CVS repositories
• new, much improved New System Browser (enable via the settings-tools menu)
• SUnit testframework GUI (thanks to Samuel, Travis, Kent and the Camp Smalltalk people)
• Original RefactoringBrowser is almost working (but have a look at the ''New System Browser'' ...)
• new tool: SnapShotImageBrowser - allows old images to be browsed (see FileBrowsers Tools Menu)
• fixes and changes for hpux XServer settings
• hpux version tuned & fixed
• new oracle8i interface library
• exceptionHandling (class based exceptions, VW compatibility)
• additional widget functionality & GUI builder attributes (snap in VariablePanel, menu for Labels, many additional channels and callBacks)
• great new goody: Chicks-Eyes; you must have it ! ;-) [see Launcher-Demos-SimpleAnimations menu]

Rel3.6.4 - published

Rel3.6.3

• new menuBuilder attributes: 'hideAfterActivation' & 'busyCursorDuringActivation'
• arbitraryComponent - supports pluggable aspects (see GUI builders subAspects sections and "Component plugin scheme")
• subCanvas - supports pluggable aspects (see GUI builders subAspects sections and "Component plugin scheme")
• noteBook - better tabbing and acceleratorKey support; more control over look in GUI builder
• compatibility - more VW compatibility (for RefactoryBrowser)
• code formatter (ported from RefactoryBrowser) almost usable ;-)
• some additional goodies added to the browser and guiPainter
• ST/X finally got a splash image (under unix) !; can be changed or disabled via the "showBanner.rc"/"hideBanner.rc" scripts.

Rel3.6.2 - eXept customer release

Rel3.6.1 - published

Rel3.5.6

• ROSE-MDL Parser and class-code generator added

Rel3.5.5

• new file organization scheme - resources, bitmaps and sources are now located under the corresponding packages directory (/opt/smalltalk/packages/xxx).
  This avoids conflicts, when the same name appears in multiple packages.
• integrated Java virtual machine support and support classes.
  See Java support for more details.
• AddOn packages for Cryptography, and Smartcard interfacing are now available as extra (non-free) addOn packages.
• started to port the RefactoryBrowser - not yet finished, but provided "as is" for hacking.
• started to add some Squeak compatibility support - not yet finished
• started to port the squeak morphic package - not yet finished, but provided "as is" for hacking.

Rel3.5.4

• much improved Make.proto, Makefile etc. generation (for stc compilation of class libraries).
• first preRelease of the ProjectBrowser available.
• XML parser ported to ST/X.
• mouseWheel support under windows; slow scroll with SHIFT+wheel, fast scroll with CTRL+wheel.

Rel3.5.3

• Added support for class-based exceptions. Started to convert existing signal code. Tuned the exception code to avoid generating throw-away full blocks.
• Ported the PluggableWebServer code to run with HTTPServer (see PWS namespace).
  The HTTPServer is a merged version of the Squeak WebServer and our own old HTTPServer class, which supports both built-in and plugged actions, keepAlive connections, file access with file caching, temporary links and improved error handling (see WWW Server documentation).
• The ChangeBrowser is now able to show a Squeak sourceFile.
• New improved VersionDiffBrowser, which shows changes on a per-method basis (the old diff displayed the whole-class diffs)
• New improved replacement classes for ListView, SelectionInListView and TreeView: ListModelView, SelectionInListModelView and HierarchicalListView.

Rel3.5.2

• TDV (Technical Data Viewer) 3D data visualization framework
• OpenGL interface library
• Workspace variables
• Immediate selector checks - checks for valid message selector, while you type (must be enabled in the settings-source&debugger dialog)
• AddOn packages for ASN1-Parsing, OSI-ROSE and OSI-CMIS protocols are now available as extra (non-free) addOn packages.
• Tuned LargeInteger arithmetic (had to do some cryptographic stuff).
• Changed (& fixed) the keyboardFocus handling.
  It is now possible, to configure either focus-follows-mouse or click-to-focus mode from the launcher's misc-settings menu.

Rel3.5.1

• ExternalTopWindow Support - allows ST/X to play in a window provided by another (non Smalltalk) application.
• New widget: Extended ComboBox.
• Bug fixes & enhancements in the Image Editor

Rel3.4.9

• New widgets: PieChartWidget, BarChartWidget, MeterClackCounter.
• More FileBrowser functions;
• Additional tools & goodies: Telnet goody; Shell Terminal;
• better search functions in the systemBrowser;
• enhanced dataSet widget.

Rel3.4.8

• Support for dynamic process priorities.
• Beta release for Win-NT / Win-95 (x86 Architecture).

Rel3.4.7

• Beta JIT-compiler support released for rs6k (aix) CPU.
• Pseudo TTY support (for terminal emulators).

Rel3.4.6

• CType class hierarchy and CParser to read C-language include files (available as addOn for the full commercial version)

• UserAbort key (CTRL-Y) to interrupt a window-process without entering the debugger.

Rel3.4.5

• Beta JIT-compiler support released for alpha and mc68k CPU's.
  The alpha JIT-compiler is a preRelease and does not generate optimized code (yet).
  This is the first and final version, which supports JIT-compilation for the mc68k - it will no longer be maintained in the future.

Rel3.4.4

• Preliminary versions of the application- and library builder are included; sorry - no documentation yet (will be made available via WWW).
  Also includes a preliminary version of the new changes browser.

  MessageTracer allows placing a trap on an instvar change in some object.

  SyntaxColoring (enable in the Launcher's "source & debugger" settings dialog).

Rel3.4.3

• the JIT-compiler is now released for sparc, mips and i386 CPU's. JIT support for other architectures (hppa, alpha, rs6k & 68k) is implemented, but not yet released.

Rel3.4.2

• the VM now understands Java bytecodes and dynamically switches to Java execution, when a java-encoded method is encountered. However, the Java support system is not delivered with the standard system - it will be available soon as an add-on package.

• very useful "ref chains" menu item in the memoryUsage monitor, to find object references (i.e. to answer the question: "why is this instance not garbage collected").

• new widgets to display a collection of graphs in either 2D or 3D style.

Rel3.4.1

• the launcher has been rewritten using the GUI painter tool and can be opened via the "New Launcher" menu item in the (old launchers) "tools" menu.

• improved GUI painter & associated tools (MenuEditor, ImageEditor ...).

• editTextViews can be configured to simulate other cursor editors behavior which cannot be positioned past the end of a line or past the last line of the text.

• panels can be configured to ignore invisible components

• more file formats supported in image save functions. (PBM, GIF and BMP)

Rel3.3.2

• the GUI menu builder is now included as a preliminary beta version.
  Similar to the GUI builder in operation, this allows menus to be defined and installed interactively.

• the HTML Viewer now supports jis and big5 fonts (japanese & chinese encodings). The documentation includes a japanese top page for demonstration.

Rel3.3.1

• ST/X now includes a preliminary (beta) version of the GUI interface builder. This allows generation of windowSpecs, which are used by the UIBuilder framework to dynamically build windows and menus.
  The builder is still being developed, and you are welcome to send comments. We are aware of the fact, that it is still unfinished and contains some bugs - however, we think that its is useful to include it (despite those bugs), to give you an idea of what will come and start playing with it early.
  Sorry - the documentation is not yet finished.

  The GUI Builder can be opened from the launcher's tools menu.

• NoteBook widget components have been added, supporting both horizontal and vertical tabs.

• horizontal-only-scrollable views are now supported. ScrollBars may be enabled/disabled dynamically by the program, or the scrollableView be configured to do it automatically.

• All system classes have been investigated and fixed for being threadsafe. ST/X runs with preemptive scheduling enabled (see Launchers settings menu).

• Moved most examples into separate namespaces, to avoid name conflicts with 'real' applications.

• Support for multiple namespaces.

• New number class: FixedPoint, to support business applications

• Reclaimed WeakArray slots are now set to 0 (zero); used to be nil in previous versions.

• Support for private classes.

• Just in time compilation of bytescodes to machine code (currently, this is not implemented for all architectures).

• Document printing support - prints HTML documents, automatic chapter numbering & generates a table of contents.

• Generated class documentation - always up-to-date.

• Builtin HTML browser with Smalltalk interaction, scripts and Smalltalk applet support.

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