Squeak as a toy for developer's of Squeak -- not a developer's tool

Andrew C. Greenberg werdna at mucow.com
Wed Apr 3 01:46:34 UTC 2002


On Saturday, March 30, 2002, at 01:08 PM, Serg Koren wrote:

> Stop thinking of Squeak as your OWN little toy.  Start thinking of it
> and treating it as a production-quality tool, and you may get somewhere.

I did, and then I did.  Apparently, Serg didn't, so he didn't.

> That being said, I still think Squeak is one cool "potential"
> development tool, and worth the effort (in my case).  But MOST
> developers want a tool they can use, not a tool they have to work on.

Squeak isn't for "MOST developers," as Serg defines it.  So what?  The 
point is not that Squeak is a tool that you have to work on, its that 
Squeak is a tool that you CAN work on.

> Also, the mentality of "if you want it, or suggest it, you own it and
> should do it" is very demeaning...one of I'm superior and I have more
> important things to work on and you SHOULD be smart enough to do it
> yourself.  Get it through your heads; not everyone with a good
> suggestion IS a Squeak/Smalltalk expert.

I wasn't when I was a newbie, but somehow I made it through the list.  
So did a good many of us who never touched Smalltalk before we met 
Squeak.  Perhaps Serg should get through his head that not everyone with 
a suggestion is making a good suggestion -- that familiarity and some 
modicum of understanding of the subject might inform his suggestions 
more effectively.

Serg clearly doesn't get it, and that's fine so far as it goes.  That 
said, we could always use some better beginner documentation. ideally 
put from the perspective of the newbie.  Perhaps Serg will undertake the 
journey and contribute the same.




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