Most Smalltalk classes build on a lot of other Smalltalk classes. So, they are hard to understand until you know the classes that they use.

In fact, you can't print out Object and completely understand it, because it has methods like "inspect" that call a lot of other classes. It is possible to build the image up from a small base, but it is not done one class at a time. Each layer is partly new classes and partly adding methods to existing classes. This is a good thing, not a bad thing, but it makes it harder to learn Smalltalk.

When an expert teaches Smalltalk, it is like getting a guided tour of a city. We show just the part of Smalltalk that a beginner is able to understand, and avoid the parts that are confusing until they have the background. You don't get that by looking at the image. For example, I tell people to ignore the GUI, the compiler, and all the tools at first. Just focus on Collection classes and numbers. We spend several weeks with just the core classes before we move on to other things. The GUI is way more cool, but I think students learn better if you ignore it at first.

Unfortunately, one of the disadvantages of Smalltalk over Java is that it is harder to learn on your own. It is not hard to learn with a guide, but newcomers don't know what to look at and what to ignore. It would help to have a beginners browser that hid most of the classes that beginners want to ignore anyway.