Well, that last message didn't go so well =). Looks like my webmail client
creates the text as an html attachment (blech.. I didn't know they did this). Let's try this again....
I'm new to Squeak (only been playing around with it for 2 weeks), and I wanted to join in on the community fun. I once read that learning Smalltalk would change my thinking about computers, so a couple of weeks ago I decided to see if that was true. Now I'm just amazed at how much my thinking has changed, and how many things about programming just suddenly make sense . I'm really drawn to Squeak, over other implementations, for some reason that I can't quite put my finger on. I think it just feels fun to me.
However, as a new user I'm really struggling to get a grip on actually using the language for something semi-productive. I'm a DBA and Network Engineer by trade, but since age 12 I've loved programming. The freedom of creative expression in code and the immediate response from the computer has always connected with something in me. So for the past 22 years I've learned as many languages as I could, but I'm shocked that it took me so long to get to Smalltalk. Also (insert ego here =) I'm shocked that I'm having such a hard time with it.
One thing that I keep seeing around the net (and on comp.lang.smalltalk) is that Squeak is too hard to learn because of the documentation. From my friendly prespective there's some truth to that, and the bulk of the books and articles on Squeak that I've read are a bit dated (back to 2000 or earlier). It seems that the docs are getting crusty and need of a renewal.
So, to that end, I'd like to volunteer to organize the docs and write some new tutorials for Squeak. I've registered the domain squeak-mentors.org, and I'll be pulling together all the links that I've found for web tutorials to start with. After that I'll start working on some mid-level tutorials (which don't seem to exist) and class documentation (with examples) to help ease the learning curve for others. That's my plan at this point, but I wanted to notify the community so I'm not operating in a vaccum (and possibly doing something that doesn't make sense). I'm open to all thoughts, ideas and advice on this project.
I'd also like to fix the ocr errors in the book, "Art and Science of Smalltalk", since it's a great introduction (I ordered my own copy) to the language, but with the errors it's a bit annoying to read online.
And, I guess, that's my introduction =). Thoughts and ideas welcome.
Sincerely,
Jason Burke
Hi jason
welcome :) if you want to fix the ocr of the "Art and Science of Smalltalk" tell what I can do to help you. Do you want the scanned version? Do you have an OCR tool?
Stef
Well, that last message didn't go so well =). Looks like my webmail client creates the text as an html attachment (blech.. I didn't know they did this). Let's try this again....
I'm new to Squeak (only been playing around with it for 2 weeks), and I wanted to join in on the community fun. I once read that learning Smalltalk would change my thinking about computers, so a couple of weeks ago I decided to see if that was true. Now I'm just amazed at how much my thinking has changed, and how many things about programming just suddenly make sense . I'm really drawn to Squeak, over other implementations, for some reason that I can't quite put my finger on. I think it just feels fun to me.
However, as a new user I'm really struggling to get a grip on actually using the language for something semi-productive. I'm a DBA and Network Engineer by trade, but since age 12 I've loved programming. The freedom of creative expression in code and the immediate response from the computer has always connected with something in me. So for the past 22 years I've learned as many languages as I could, but I'm shocked that it took me so long to get to Smalltalk. Also (insert ego here =) I'm shocked that I'm having such a hard time with it.
One thing that I keep seeing around the net (and on comp.lang.smalltalk) is that Squeak is too hard to learn because of the documentation. From my friendly prespective there's some truth to that, and the bulk of the books and articles on Squeak that I've read are a bit dated (back to 2000 or earlier). It seems that the docs are getting crusty and need of a renewal.
So, to that end, I'd like to volunteer to organize the docs and write some new tutorials for Squeak. I've registered the domain squeak- mentors.org, and I'll be pulling together all the links that I've found for web tutorials to start with. After that I'll start working on some mid-level tutorials (which don't seem to exist) and class documentation (with examples) to help ease the learning curve for others. That's my plan at this point, but I wanted to notify the community so I'm not operating in a vaccum (and possibly doing something that doesn't make sense). I'm open to all thoughts, ideas and advice on this project.
I'd also like to fix the ocr errors in the book, "Art and Science of Smalltalk", since it's a great introduction (I ordered my own copy) to the language, but with the errors it's a bit annoying to read online.
And, I guess, that's my introduction =). Thoughts and ideas welcome.
Sincerely,
Jason Burke
squeak-dev@lists.squeakfoundation.org