Hi All,<br><br>I'm VERY new to Smalltalk and I'm currently cherishing my first impressions of Squeak (because they are informative not because they are positive) and further I am paid to write Java at work. With that out of the way I'd like to agree with Keith Hodges here.
<br><br>"Its all down to marketing marketing and more marketing."<br><br>Very true. It's something I've observed many brilliant programmers utterly fail to grasp.<br><br>For those of you who fail likewise this try this exercise: Imagine your first experience of something new. Imagine you can't stand the smell of it. You have such a visceral response to it that you really don't want to consider any other worthy attributes of it. The only thing that can occupy your mind is that it stinks and you want to throw up and please can someone just get it away from you.
<br><br>Now imagine something that has not been expertly marketed and designed (though not necessarily commercially marketed and designed). To the vast majority of people (perhaps not people like you and perhaps not rightly) this new thing smells just like the thing you imagined. Until that marketing happens (either "virally" through personal recommendation or through more traditional means) that thing will stink for anyone else who goes near it.
<br><br>I hope this metaphor isn't too way out but for me it captures the problem with Squeak (and other good technical things that have not had their due attention in the world). I know squeak isn't Smalltalk but I ultimately tried Squeak because I wanted to teach my kids programming and learn a nice language myself. So far so good but I decided to carefully capture some of my initial impressions. Squeak definitely lacks any kind of capable graphic design or usability sense. It's not a criticism because of course I can try to help fix it etc etc. But it is intended to serve as an explanation to those who just can't imagine why others wouldn't fall instantly in love with it.
<br><br>I've lumped visual design and marketing together in this discussion which is usually an oversimplification, but I think it contrasts with the purist engineering aspect.<br><br>The name "Smalltalk" also smells by the way. Java used to smell a bit because it sounds kinda funky and unprofessional on first hearing to a middle manager, but over time this reaction has been marketed away. "Smalltalk" sounds to those folk like something feeble, uncapable. It can be overcome but only with attention paid to promotion.
<br><br>Marketing forms preconceptions and "prejudices". Lack of marketing makes things seem suspect and unworthy in comparison to those things that get good press (however unworthily). <br><br>I do intend to follow advice I've received from professional Smalltalk developers and get Cincom's IDE but I don't think that's going to be part of my project to teach my kids to program.
<br><br><br>Feedback encouraged.<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Chris.<br><br>-- <br>Chris Mountford<br><br>"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is." -- Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut
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