> I am tired of being alone in my endeavors...

I hope you won't mind one last farewell, Trygve, to assure you that you are
*not* alone.  The Introduction of your paper, *Personal programming and the
object computer*, says:
_____________
My goal is to empower laypeople to control their electronic environment
with programs that they write themselves. While a professional programmer
is a highly trained expert, the personal programmer writes programs for
personal use and values simplicity and convenience over programming
sophistication.
_____________

Which is, and has been, also, exactly my mission with Squeak.  A system for
people who want and need the capability of a computer, but _without_ the
desire to be a developer.  I've been referring to these laypeople as "power
users", and have been championing for them within this community for at
least the last 15 or so years, even straight to the board.  Like you, I've
found it challenging to convince this community that Microsoft Excel users
have been waiting since 2001 for something better, but I'm here and also
Stéphan Rollandin has expressed similar interests.

I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to collaborate in real-time, but I'm
really glad you've made your work in this area accessible on-line.  I've
only just begun and it's already hard to stop reading this paper!  I can
see it's probably going to keep me up tonight, and probably add yet another
project to my already long list..  :)

So, please, consider it joyful day, not a sad one.  Your efforts in moving
us further down that highway to the holy grail of Personal Computing have
been successful -- it's just that it's a very long and, indeed, lonely
highway.  But, I believe the Emerald City is finally starting to come into
view ahead, thanks to your and a few others' contributions, we may have
just enough gas to get there.  You may be on the exit ramp that heads west
into the sunset, but your work appears to fill one of the last remaining
gaps needed to complete the stack.

Best Wishes,
  Chris Muller

On Fri, Oct 2, 2020 at 10:53 AM Trygve Reenskaug <trygver at ifi.uio.no> wrote:

> Dear all,
> I need to use many words to explore why I can't understand current Squeak
> code. I believe the reason is a profound one, and I hope some of you have
> the patience to read about it.
>
> Thank you for your responses to my 'A Sad Day'-message. One response said
>  "*But please don't give up as an inventor of MVC, which has simplified
> writing software for all of us.*
>
>
> *We need new ideas to stabilize Smalltalk." *As to MVC, it was received
> with acclamation when I first presented it at PARC in 1978, and people
> suggested I should make it the theme of my article in the special Smalltalk
> issue of Byte. I couldn't understand it; MVC was so simple and obvious that
> is was not worth writing about it. Nevertheless, people seem to have
> problems understanding MVC. It took me a long time before I gleaned what
> was going on. The explanation is a deep one, rooted in our different mental
> paradigms.
>
> From around 1970, I was working on Prokon, a distributed system for
> managers in the shipbuilding industry:
>
>  Every manager has their own computer that they use for augmenting their
> mind. The manager understands their software and ideally writes it
> themselves. Managers delegate conversations with other managers to their
> computer's M-to-M network. (Marked with a heavy black line in the figure).
> I chose "distributed planning with central control" as my example project.
> Each manager creates a plan for their department, using apps suited to
> their particular needs. A **distributed algorithm** ensures consistency
> across departments.
>
> I came to PARC in 1978 and could immediately relate to the Smalltalk image
> with its universe of collaborating objects. Alan's definition of
> object-orientation fitted my Prokon model: "Thus its semantics are a bit
> like having thousands and thousands of computers all hooked together by a
> very fast network."
>
> MVC prescribes a network of communicating objects. Any object can fill one
> or more positions in the network as long as it has the required behavior;
> their classes are irrelevant. It's so simple that it's not worth writing
> about it.
>
>
> ====================
>
> The work on this post was interrupted at this point by an unexpected week
> in hospital. It gave me quiet days of pondering the futility of what I am
> doing and I will be terminating my memberships in the Pharo and Squeak
> mailing lists. I have also deleted most of the old draft of this message
> and will quickly conclude with two observations:
>
>
>    1.
>    The Smalltalk image is a universe of communicating objects. I call it
>    an object computer. It can be seen as the model of an entirely new kind of
>    computer, a model on a level closer to the human mind than the von Neumann
>    model of 1948. The new model is communication-centric and should supersede
>    the ubiquitous CPU-centric model as soon as possible. Working out the
>    details of this idea could make an exciting and disruptive Ph.D. thesis.
>    2.
>    Smalltalk is called a programming language. It is a curious one, very
>    different from well-known languages like Java with their syntax and
>    semantics. Smalltalk, as a programming language, does not have the concept
>    of a program. Smalltalk, as a class-oriented language, does not have syntax
>    for the declaration of a class. Smalltalk, as an object-oriented language,
>    can't describe how objects collaborate to achieve a goal. You appear to be
>    happy with this state of affairs, at least, I see no sign of anybody
>    wanting to move on from the unfinished Smalltalk language to a mature
>    development environment. I do not find it satisfactory and it is not
>    acceptable to the intended managers populating the distributed system shown
>    in the first picture. Consequently, I have done something about it as
>    described in my SoSym article "*Personal Programming and the Object
>    Computer.*" I am tired of being alone in my endeavors and this ends my
>    work with Squeak and other Smalltalks. I wish you health and happiness
>    wherever you happen to be.
>
> Trygve
> Personal programming and the object computer
> https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-019-00768-3
>
> --
>
> *The essence of object orientation is that objects collaborate  to achieve
> a goal. *
> Trygve Reenskaug      mailto: trygver at ifi.uio.no <%20trygver at ifi.uio.no>
> Morgedalsvn. 5A       http://folk.uio.no/trygver/
> N-0378 Oslo             http://fullOO.info
> Norway                     Tel: (+47) 468 58 625
>
>
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