the Spoon book

[Trygve Reenskaug]

Craig,
Your book looks great and I look forward to reading more of it. I also 
applaud your choice of target audience; the lay reader/user/programmer. 
Data processing is essentially simple, the complexity of current SW 
products are the results of poor development and probably also 
successful marketing strategies.

I strongly applaud your aim at making a Smalltalk as Smalltalk should 
have been and hope to be able to add my two bits worth to your effort.

Targeting the lay reader poses makes it hard to discuss the hard parts. 
I strongly believe that a new departure such as Spoon /must /be created 
on a solid foundation. For example in /chapter twenty-two: imprinting 
and modules./ Every object has a unique identity. A copy of the object 
can exist in a remote image. But then there are two distinct objects 
with the same identity, thus violating the fundamental rule. This rises 
a number of fundamental problems that need to be studied in depth, 
otherwise we may be building our edifice on shifting sand.

Another concept that needs to be carefully studied is the notion of a 
/module/. I take it it is here a module of objects. There is the 
/Islands /in /Tweak/, but I find this unsatisfactory because it is not 
well defined IMO.

Another comment.  /chapter twenty-three: collaboration: /Documentation 
is a two-edged sword. It is hard to keep it synchronized with a rapidly 
changing program; it is hard to read and often hard to understand 
because it is terse and often uses an unfamiliar terminology. I aim at 
making the code itself more expressive so that it becomes more readable.

Details:

    * The document should be dated.
    * estimated completion date: 1 June 2007 is somewhat unlikely
    * A few figures would have helped me. As it is its target audience
      are pure left-brainers.
    * PDF permits a live TOC, e.g., see
            http://folk.uio.no/trygver/2007/2007.07.30-RolesAndClasses.pdf
      I find this very helpful for navigating in large documents.


-------------------

I hope to get a stable Spoon system up and running so that I can get on 
with my own work. I may have Spoon running now as an empty window, but I 
cannot communicate with it in any way.

Cheers
--Trygve

-- 

Trygve Reenskaug      mailto: trygver at ifi.uio.no
Morgedalsvn. 5A       http://folk.uio.no/trygver
N-0378 Oslo           Tel: (+47) 22 49 57 27
Norway 
 

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