=> 6/19/01 2:36:18 AM EDT, ok at atlas.otago.ac.nz =>
<< Let's face it, "number" is a concept from other languages too, >>

Yes, that is true. But to get someone to understand Smalltalk, you must teach 
them that Number is something different in Smalltalk. It is a Class in the 
Smalltalk hierarchy, and I can, for example, go and change the meaning of the 
binary method #+ in Integer (a subclass of Number), if I so choose, and have 
some meaningful results I intend to achieve by doing so.

Someone threw in the example:
    1000 factorial / 999 factorial
recently, which indeed looks quite trivial. I went and evaluated it in 
Squeak, and sat and thought about the results for a good long while, 
wondering what I was missing. When I figured it out, I was quite impressed. I 
have been looking at expressions like this for 20 years -- why wasn't I 
impressed before.

This is one of the things I like about Smalltalk -- its ability to astonish 
one with things you thought you already knew. And it seems to do this on a 
regular basis. A box of wonder, which regularly refreshes itself !

Hang in there,
Jerry.

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Jerry L. Archibald
systemObjectivesIncorporated
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