Hi Aik-Siong--
> I want to go to a web page, select a body of text and have Smalltalk
> code analyze the text in some way and return the answer in the
> browser or in the Smalltalk app or file output. There should be
> two-way communication between app and browser. I would like to do
> live debugging too.
Ah, it sounds like you want something that would work with
arbitrary websites you happen to visit. I would do that by making a
SqueakJS-powered extension for an existing web browser (e.g., a Chrome
extension). The JavaScript bridge in SqueakJS gives you full two-way
livecoding access to the host browser's JS engine, and I'd probably use
it for the Smalltalk app's UI (driving some JS front-end library, like
React). And there's no reason the object memory can't be Pharo.
At this point, I think it makes much more sense to run Smalltalk in
a web browser rather than building a Smalltalk web browser. I find
SqueakJS easily fast enough for useful things, like the Cog app
streaming Eliot mentioned. WebAssembly will enable web browsers to run
Cog directly (although subject to web security constraints), making
JavaScript completely optional.
Yes, the web platform is full of astounding accidental complexity,
as Stephen pointed out. Still, there's a lot of great work, community
energy, and reach in which Smalltalk can now participate, and I'm
enjoying it. (Thanks again, Bert, Dan and all!)
-C
--
Craig Latta
Black Page Digital
Amsterdam :: San Francisco
[email protected]
+31 6 2757 7177 (SMS ok)
+ 1 415 287 3547 (no SMS)
