[Newbies] Why hasn't Smalltalk been wildly accepted?

[Michael Kohout]

When I get home(and if the weather isn't too nice) I play with Squeak.
 But when I go to work, I write Java(like a lot of people on this
list, I'd imagine).

One of the things that prevents me from even considering it at work is
the lack of Oracle driver support.  Of course, I could write that
support myself using named primitives(and I've tried), but the
documentation on how to use all the modern Slang features and tie the
whole thing into XCode is much too sparse.

When this changes I might be able to use squeak for more than just amusement.

On 8/9/06, Keith Hodges <keith_hodges at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >
> > Java gained ground because anyone who wanted to try it could just
> > download it and learn it.  This wasn't possible with Smalltalk - so
> > nobody learned it.
> >
> > At least, this is how things looked to me as an enterprise systems
> > architect in the mid-1990's.
> This was the picture pre 1995 I think, since then...
>
> Other smalltalk vendors came into the market. Smalltalk Agents was about
> 300 pounds in 1994. Squeak was free in 1996, Dolphin was free initially
> also in about 1996. When I wanted to write an industrial strength
> project I downloaded ST/X for free and although some sources were
> missing I could certainly learn enough and demonstrate enough to justify
> using it on a project.
>
> If you ask any programmer in the UK, "what about Dolphin" I think that
> you will get a blank look. Its all down to marketing marketing and more
> marketing. Even my grannie probably knows that Java is a progamming
> language.
>
> Having said this, because Smalltalk is relatively easy to learn once you
> are over the initial learning cliff, people have not seen the value in
> good documentation.
>
> Pick any product that you wish to learn, go to your local book shop and
> see what is there. "The Pragmatic PRogrammer" was a book about ruby, and
> that book single handedly launched ruby into the mainstream, without the
> hype that surrounded  java. Smalltalk has lacked bookshelf presence, and
> I think that as soon as Seaside gets a book out there that O'Reilly puts
> an animal on the front of it the better.
>
> just my 2p
>
> Keith
>
>
>
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