On Monday 22 October 2001 08:28 pm, Alan Mortensen wrote:
> I'm having difficulties tinkering around with Smalltalk after being a
> long term Java developer.  My biggest problem is with typing (as in
> class types)... how do you know what to pass methods?  Often I see
> parameter names like aRectangle.. so I guess that's clear.. but what if
> it's something like aBounds..

You can "browse senders" of the method in question. Or browse implementors of 
the methods that are sent to the parameter.

Unfortunately, there's no quick way to wrap a method for debugging, but if 
you have to you can insert a line like

self halt.

into the method source to pop up the debugger so you can see what's being 
sent to the method in question.

Things like aBounds are idiomatic; generally speaking, bounds will be a 
Rectangle, and extent will be a Point.

> I guess if more methods were documented it would be easier.  All I know
> is right now I'm having great difficulty using the available classes
> without finding external documentation on a web page somewhere.

The Method Finder and Message Names tools are very helpful, I find.

> Oh as a side note, how is smalltalk doing these days usage-wise? 

It's working fine for me and lots of other people.

-- 
Ned Konz
currently: Stanwood, WA
email:     ned at bike-nomad.com
homepage:  http://bike-nomad.com