Squeak 6.1

Squeak 6.1, the latest release of the Smalltalk system, has been officially announced. Since the last version four years ago, over 1700 patches have been merged with 9000+ method changes. This significant update includes numerous improvements in areas such as language, tools, and the environment. The release notes, optimized for viewing within Squeak, contain numerous interactive examples and links to code pointers for a hands-on exploration of new features and mechanisms. The notes also serve as a changelog and provide an outline of the document.

Some notable highlights include improvements in Morphic, Tools, ToolBuilder, SUnit, Shout, Kernel, Collections, Chronology, MethodMassage, and various other packages. Notable among these are the MethodMassage package for working with compiled methods as first-class objects, and enhancements to Shout for syntax highlighting.

In terms of version control and package management, updates include the Installer (VersionNumber, UpdateStream, Squeak-Version), Monticello for revision control, SqueakMap for package browsing and management, and HelpSystem for accessing documentation. The release also includes significant updates to SqueakSSL, WebClient, and Regex packages.

However, the release notes do note major deprecations, with 61Deprecated being introduced to preserve non-private methods and classes removed during refactoring. These methods and classes signal a (suppressible) deprecation warning when used.