On Monday 29 Jun 2009 10:07:30 am Benjamin L. Russell wrote:
Is there a counterpart to SICP (_Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs_; see http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/) focusing on roughly the same topics from a purely object-oriented standpoint, but using Smalltalk, in particular Squeak, as a means rather than as an end?
There is no single book to my knowledge. Concepts in Squeak have their origins in biology rather than in computational math. The boundary between 'hardware' and 'software' is blurry. See the reading list at http://www.squeakland.org/resources/books/readingList.jsp particularly "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins.
One aspect that I really miss in Squeak is more focus on theory. It would be nice if somebody presented a proof of correctness of a purely object-oriented algorithm that was implementation-independent.
Squeak is conceived to work more like an organism than a mechanism so concepts like proof of correctness does not translate easily into such an environment. PoC applies to computations small enough to be 'intellectually manageable' while Squeak tackles the big picture as a continously evolving gestalt of objects and interactions. The closest document that captures the essence of Squeak is the NSF Proposal at http://www.vpri.org/pdf/rn2006002_nsfprop.pdf
Also see the (somewhat long) discussion thread http://www.nabble.com/Dynabook-hw-cost-td10732041i20.html
Subbu