Behind the Scenes: The Making of VAST. Talk from ESUG 2024

Talk from ESUG2024

"Behind the Scenes: The Making of VAST"

PDF: http://archive.esug.org/ESUG2024/day4/05-developingVAST-mariano.pdf

1. Mariano Martinez Peck
Team Lead & Sr. Software Engineer
[email protected]
@MartinezPeck
/in/mariano-martinez-peck
Behind the Scenes:The Making of VAST

2. ◦VAST Platform Overview
◦Coding
◦Testing
◦Building
◦Documenting
◦Conclusion
◦Q&A
Agenda

3. VAST Platform Overview

4. VAST Platform Components
◦Smalltalk
◦Virtual Machine (VM)
◦Internal tests
◦Many build scripts
◦Installers
◦Documentation
◦Migration Guide
◦Other supplementary materials…

5. Smalltalk
◦Base Smalltalk language implementation
◦Additional libraries and frameworks
◦Integrated development environment (IDE)
◦Graphical user interface (GUI)
◦Version control system
◦Tools

6. Smalltalk – Some Numbers
◦Number of Applications ~= 1,400
◦Number of Classes ~= 13,000
◦Number of Methods ~= 213,000
◦Lines of Code ~= 1,150,000

7. Virtual Machine (VM)
◦Interpreter
◦Memory manager & GC
◦JIT and PIC
◦Unicode support
◦OsProcess
◦And many other parts!

8. Virtual Machine (VM) – Some Numbers
◦Lines of Code = 212,323

9. Internal Tests – Some Numbers
◦~= 19,600 unit tests
◦~= 162,000 lines of code
…and even more tests I’ll mention later!

10. 1.5 million lines of code just for Smalltalk, the VM, and unit tests!

11. Coding

12. Method Visibility: Private vs. Public
◦Important consideration to create an
easy upgrade path for customers.
(Avoid or minimize “public” method
changes.)
◦When changes do occur to “public”
methods, they are included in our
Migration Guide.
◦Balance changes to “public” methods
between necessary evolution and
business reality.

13. Code Formatting
◦Unified formatting layout

◦We stick to the default format
◦Be able to compare each others
code and see not formatting
difference

14. Method Comments
◦At least, for public methods
◦They include a brief description,
arguments, answer, exception
raised, examples, etc.
Bonus:
Create tests that run the
examples located in the
comments!

15. App/Class Comments
◦Comments in methods are great, but its
hard to give the bigger picture.
◦Application comments give a sense of the
cohesive properties that led all the classes
to be grouped together.
◦Class comments should describe the
object's purpose and any other interesting
details.
Bonus:
Create tests that run the examples
located in the comments!

16. Method Categories/Protocols
◦Every method belongs to a category
◦Methods can be in more than one category

17. Lint Checking
◦Lint rules are run
against the code
◦Improve code quality

18. Coverage Analysis
◦We use the coverage analysis tool.
◦Builds confidence that you have
developed working code.
◦Gives a possible measure of how
effective your test suite is.
◦If code didn't get exercised...
it should be assumed that it's broken!

19. Performance Profiling
◦We use the Performance
profiler
◦VAST should be as
efficient as possible

20. Testing

21. Multiple Types of Tests
◦Extensive Smalltalk SUnit test suite
◦VM tests
◦IVT (Installation Verification Tests)
◦Manual/regression tests

22. Multiple Platforms
◦Operating Systems
◦Windows & Linux
◦CPU Architectures
◦Intel x86, Intel x64, ARMv7 (32bit) and ARMv8 (64bit)
◦Screen Depth
◦HiDPI vs Non HiDPI
◦Multiple scaling factors
◦Linux Variations
◦Installers: deb, rpm
◦Types: desktop, server
◦GUI: KDE, Gnome, etc.
◦Windows Variations
◦desktop, server

23. Multiple VAST Installers Options
◦Client
◦Manager
◦Standalone

24. Multiple VAST Images Types
◦Full image
◦Base image

25. So Many Testing Combinations!
◦Multiple Types of Tests
◦Multiple Platforms
◦Multiple VAST Installer Options
◦Multiple VAST Image Types

26. Building

27. Making a VAST Build
◦Building
◦All the Smalltalk images
◦VAST Installers
◦Runtime support files
◦Automated Testing
◦IVT tests
◦SUnit tests
◦Benchmarking
◦Performance benchmarks
◦Comparisons with previous builds

28. Documenting

29. All versions documented!

30. Documentation auto-generated from comments!

31. Migration Guide
Use it to upgrade from:
IBM VisualAge 3.0 (released in 1995)
to latest available VAST Platform!

32. Conclusion

33. Why does all this matter?
◦Software doesn’t live in isolation. It MUST move forward to effectively
evolve alongside all the systems and platforms that surround it.
◦This presentation outlined the foundation of what we call “responsible
evolution”, which will continue to be the core engineering priority for VAST.
◦“Responsible evolution” has allowed our customers to keep pace with the
inevitable changes of technology, while also being able to count on the
stability of a commercial Smalltalk system like the VAST Platform.

34. Contact
General Inquiry
[email protected]
Sales
[email protected]
North America, Toll Free
855 476 2558
International
[phone]
VAST Support Portal
vast-support.instantiations.com
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Questions?
Thanks for attending!
Mariano Martinez Peck
Team Lead & Sr. Software Engineer
[email protected]
@MartinezPeck
/in/mariano-martinez-peck