At 11:35 -0500 1/12/2000, Jeff Szuhay wrote:
>I just received a copy of "SmallTalk by Example" because
>I like learning from guided example. And, yes, it is
>oriented toward VisualWorks 2.0 or 2.5.
>
>I did a cursory look around SmallTalk sites but could find
>no reasonable comparison of the different dialects of
>SmallTalk.
>
>For instance, what are the differences between Squeak, QKS
>SmallTalk Agents, VisualWorks, Visual Age, and Dolphin
>(to name just a few)?
>
>How portable is code between them?
>
>What are the criteria for choosing one over the other?
>(One my criteria here is that it must run on a Mac.)
>
>Can anyone point me to a good, thorough (even gritty)
>comparison of the SmallTalks out there?

:-) Any comparison of the various Smalltalks would be gritty!

I don't know of one, but having used several I can attest that while 
all are definitely Smalltalk even simple things can differ. For 
example, I was surprised that Squeak supports bases only up to 16, 
though IBM Smalltalk allows bases up to 36. On the other hand, I've 
never used any above 16...

I'd be happy to provide manuals for IBM Smalltalk (and my book on it 
too) to anyone who wants to write such a comparison. (A CD with a 
fully runnable system is free from the IBM Smalltalk web site, but 
expires in 30 days).

BTW, VA is the connect-parts-by-wires construction set, VA/ST or VAST 
is Visual Age Smalltalk, and IBM Smalltalk is the same thing. VA 
comes with VA/ST and is written in it. One can completely ignore the 
wires and write straight Smalltalk. BTW, the term VAST makes much 
more sense after you load the whole thing onto a hard drive! It's 
big, but there is a whole lot of stuff there too.

Dave
_______________________________
David N. Smith
IBM T J Watson Research Center
Hawthorne, NY
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herein are those of the author
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