Magik Programming Course

Introduction
Smallworld 3 is written in a unique object-oriented language - Smallworld Magik. There are many situations where application development is necessary to cater for specific requirements. Staff who do this will need to be skilled in the use of Magik. This course provides varied experience in writing Magik, together with an understanding of the principles of Object Oriented programming. It does this through lectures, examples, and hands on experience. The course also introduces the delegate to some concepts involved in the "tailoring" or customising of the supplied system to particular needs. This course is primarily aimed at giving the delegate an opportunity to become fluent in the language itself. The Application Development course consolidates this and introduces some more complex Magik topics in the context of the Smallworld 3 system architecture and classes. At the end of this course delegates will be able to design and implement small applications and read and debug existing code.

Audience

  • Software Engineers who will be following the full Smallworld customization program.

    Prerequisites
    Those who wish to attend the course should have attended the Smallworld Foundation Course and have a minimum of two years experience with a high-level programming language. It is most important to note that this course assumes a basic fluency in programming and delegates who do not have such fluency will not gain the full benefit from this course.

    Aims and Objectives
    After attending this course, students should have:

    • A knowledge of Magik syntax.
    • An understanding of the concepts underlying object oriented programming.
    • The ability to write, compile and debug Magik code.
    • Experience of using EMACS editor.
    • Experience of using the class browser.
    • An understanding of classification using pragma.
    • A knowledge of the physical architecture of the Smallworld system, and Key Objects.
    • The ability to define extra menus.
    • The ability to perform simple editor customisation.

    Duration
    4 Days

    Contents
    Sessions The following topics are covered using examples and exercises.

    • Magik Syntax
    • EMACS editor
    • Object Orientation
    • Objects and Classes
    • Encapsulation
    • Methods and Messages
    • Polymorphism
    • Class Browser
    • Classification and Pragma
    • Collections
    • Inheritance
    • Graphical User Interface
    • Introduction to Customisation
    • Key Objects
    • Datastore
    • Records & Fields
    • Editor Customisation
    • Topology & Network Follower