Q: What does Java have that Squeak doesn't have? A: A wide acceptance as a vehicle for professional programming.

Q: What does Squeak have that Java doesn't? A: Objects.

ISO defines DATA as a representation of facts or ideas in a formalized manner capable of being communicated or manipulated by some process.

Computers can transform, store, and move DATA. An object encapsulates state and behavior. Objects communicate in systems of interlinked objects.

Alice (as well as Ducasse's BotsInc) teaches the essential first steps of data transformation through the behavior of predefined figures: sequence, loop, and branch.

The next step for Alice/Jave must be classes, essentially the packaging of state and behavior in isolated objects. The reason is that systems of interacting objects is outside the idea of a class.

The next step for Alice/Squeak could better be to illustrate that the essence of object orientation is that objects communicate to achieve a common goal. Teach the students to build systems of interacting figures in gradually more complex interaction patterns, still keeping it concrete by showing objects as concrete figures.

Squeak could become the preferred environment for introducing students to the essential concepts of computing. It is important to do this before their brain is atrophied so that they can only think in terms of classes, i.e., isolated objects.

We could do an essential community service if the many squeakers that are targeting the novice would join forces and work towards a common goal.

Cheers --Trygve