Minor Changes in Ptolemy 0.7

Galaxy Recursion Tests
Compiling recursive galaxies are warned against.
Tom Lane (Structured Software Systems), Christopher Hylands - Further Documentation
ptcl can handle Higher Order Function (HOF) stars.
Christopher Hylands
HOF stars are now available in all domains.
Tom Lane
Ptolemy0.7 uses Itcl 2.2, which runs under Tcl 7.6 and Tk4.2.
The Itcl installation will use shared libraries, where available. If you downloaded the other.src tar file, then the $PTOLEMY/src/tcltk/makefile will contain the makefile rules necessary to build Itcl with shared libraries.
Christopher Hylands
Run control window buttons rearranged and relabeled.
The ABORT button in the run control window, which was formerly hidden in the "debug" controls, has been moved to the place where STOP used to be, and has also been given STOP's keyboard equivalent (Escape). Conversely, STOP has been hidden in the "debug" controls, and has been relabeled EARLY END.

The motivation for this change is that ABORT is actually much more useful and less dangerous than STOP, especially for novices. ABORT simply terminates the simulation run point-blank, and is the right thing to use if you decide you don't want to wait for results. EARLY END (nee STOP) terminates the simulation as of the point currently reached, but then it runs the wrapup methods of the stars, just as if the simulation had ended normally. Thus, it is an invasive alteration of the behavior of the simulation. The results displayed during wrapup may be subtly or wildly different from the results that would have been obtained if the simulation had been allowed to proceed to its scheduled end time. Some of the demos will in fact deliver incorrect, or at least unexpected, results if stopped early.

The problem is even greater if a run-control-window script is in use, because the script will proceed merrily on its way with no idea that one of the commanded runs has been stopped early. ABORT will kill execution of a run control script, but EARLY END doesn't --- it just ends the currently commanded run.

With all this in mind, EARLY END is a tool that should be used only by one who is familiar with the behavior of a particular simulation and understands the consequences. So the button is now hidden in the debug controls, and ABORT has been made the easier button to get to.

Make-star can create icons whose contents are html files.
Make-star has been modified so that icons can have html files as their contents.

For example, to create an icon whose contents are the file ~/pt/myfile.html

  1. Move the cursor over a vem window and hit *
  2. Type the following values into the Make Star window:
  3. Star name: myfile
  4. Domain: NODOMAIN
  5. Star src directory: ~/pt
  6. Pathnmame of Palette: ./user.pal


Up to: What's New in Ptolemy 0.7 - Back to: New Stars and Demos Forward to: Backward Compatibility Issues in Ptolemy 0.7
Copyright © 1997, The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Last updated 06/10/97, comments to ptolemy@ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu.