On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 07:35:47 -0800, Alan Kay <alan.kay at squeakland.org>  
wrote:

> Try siblings and copies ....

Thanks, will do.

> (and also try reading some of the material on the Squeakland site).

Well, I went through the Etoys, Tutorials and Other Goodies page. I looked  
at the kids' projects (most, not all). I'm looking now and I don't see  
anything on siblings or copies. There's lots of non-squeak/land specific  
stuff.

>> Sure. And has been pointed out, there isn't a good transition between
>> eToys and Squeak proper.
>
> Etoys shouldn't transition to Squeak proper.

Huh. I thought it was you that I read lamenting the lack of a transition.  
Maybe not to Squeak but to something more adanvced than Etoys?

So, if not Squeak, whence from Etoys? (Whither?<s>)

> Or course, he can make hordes of whatever he programs.

OK, I see that the copy feature does copy over the scripts, which is good.  
There's some kind of copy property, too, which I hadn't considered before.

>> I'll check out the thesis. In the meantime, what would be ideal, I  
>> wonder.
>> A copy method? Creating a real class from the eToy? Smalltalk's
>> extensibility has to be its most impressive feature; I'm sure it could  
>> be
>> done.
>
> There are any number of things that can be done in Squeak that are not  
> good ideas or well thought out .... suggest the latter before the former  
> ...

Hence my question. On the other hand, sometimes it's better to do  
something just to learn to never do it again.

I'm trying to balance a lot of issues. I know I could teach my three year  
old assembler, but I'd a hard time explaining why I was teaching it to  
her, or how it related to the computers she uses. At the same time, I  
don't want to teach them Etoys and then have to turn around and say,  
"Well, if you want to write a real program..." (I'll admit to a certain  
paranoia, here, since I'm building a professional program in a tool I  
wouldn't foist upon my worst enemy.)