science

Newsqueak

Newsqueak is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Newsqueak rather than just read about it. In short: Newsqueak is a concurrent programming language for writing application software with interactive graphical user interfaces. Newsqueak's syntax and semantics are influenced by the C language, but its approach to concurrency was inspired by C.

Key takeaways

Newsqueak belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Newsqueak to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Newsqueak from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Newsqueak is a concurrent programming language for writing application software with interactive graphical user interfaces. Newsqueak's syntax and semantics are influenced by the C language, but its approach to concurrency was inspired by C. A. R. Hoare's communicating sequential processes (CSP). However, in Newsqueak, channels are first-class objects, with dynamic process creation and dynamic channel creation. Newsqueak was developed from an earlier, smaller, language, called Squeak (not to be confused with the Smalltalk implementation Squeak). It was developed by Luca Cardelli and Rob Pike at Bell Labs in the first half of the 1980s as a language for implementing graphical user interfaces. Both languages were presented as "a language for communicating with mice": their main aim was to model the concurrent nature of programs interacting with multiple input devices, viz., keyboards and mice. Newsqueak is an interpreted language. The name of the interpreter is squint. The UNIX port of squint is available under a FOSS license. The ideas present in Newsqueak were further developed in the programming languages Alef, Limbo, and Go.

See also Inferno (operating system) Plan 9 from Bell Labs

References

External links Bell Labs and CSP Threads Advanced Topics in Programming Languages: Concurrency/message passing Newsqueak

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Newsqueak

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Newsqueak claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Newsqueak before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Newsqueak ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Newsqueak

In research: Newsqueak appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Newsqueak in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Newsqueak is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics C programming language family, Concurrent programming languages, Programming language topic stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Newsqueak outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Newsqueak in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Newsqueak means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Newsqueak out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Newsqueak in simple terms?

Why does Newsqueak matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Newsqueak?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Newsqueak.