I've always liked the syntax.  It's easy enough to read that non-programmers
such as my girlfriend can look at it and get the gist of what is happening.

It >was< confusing for me at first, since I had only been exposed to Basic,
C, C++, and Pascal prior to jumping into Smalltalk.  Where were the ifs and
the thens, the whiles, fors, etc?  But things eventually clicked, and now I
shudder when I'm forced to decipher C.  Sure, it's very different than most
languages, and is therefore a barrier to adoption, but that doesn't make it
BAD.

Not that I'm afraid of new stuff.  If I do see a better syntax, I'll be
happy to use it; but I doubt that I will.  You guys did a heck of job way
back when I was sitting around watching cartoons and coloring. (Not that I
don't still sit around and watch cartoons).  I'm still amazed at all the
things that you guys got right 20 years ago, which the rest of the world is
either still ignorant of or has only just 'discovered'.

Jerry Bell





-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Ingalls [mailto:Dan.Ingalls at disney.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2000 6:14 PM
To: crovira at wt.net
Cc: squeak at cs.uiuc.edu
Subject: Re: Squeak (ST80) syntax


>I'm trying to figure out if you're serious or seriously [expletive deleted]
off.

Sure I'm serious.  I designed the ST-80 syntax, and now I find out someone
doesn't love it!

Just kidding.

Seriously, though, this is an active project at Squeak Central, as you will
discover in the next message on last week's topic of projects at Squeak
Central.  It's also a brainstorming kind of thing where outside ideas can be
particularly useful.

	- Dan