----- Original Message ----- 
From: Lex Spoon <lex at cc.gatech.edu>
To: <squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2002 12:39 PM
Subject: RE: Porting Squeak


> > > Smalltalk is easier to use than java, so you get a more productive
> > > environment.
> > 
> > The "odd syntax" and lack of really good tutorials geared to take existing
> > C(++)/Pascal/Java programmers (or any programmer for that matter) from
> > newbie to mastery is one of the most significant failings.
> 
> What do you base these claims on?  In my experience, neither is a
> problem, except for first impressions.

Come on, Lex!  This is a common observation.  All new languages look odd.  Smalltalk in particular looks very odd to someone coming from a procedural language background ( or languages such as C++ or Java that use language elements of a procedural language ).  I don't think this is a particularly startling revelation.

I spent years getting used to Smalltalk- didn't have computers in the early 1980's that mere mortals like me could use to run it on, so all I had to go on was in the August 1981 issue of Byte.  It didn't start to make sense until products like Digitalk's Smalltalk/V DOS came out, and I could go through the tutorials on the PC's in my college's computer lab.  Even then, it wasn't until I had a particular problem that I wanted to solve  where I got to soak in it that I really began to feel comfortable with it, and that was about 8 years after I had bought the magazine!

I don't find the observation that "the syntax looks odd" to be very remarkable.  I heard that from lots of my FORTRAN programming friends.  Ok, both of them.   That doesn't change the fact that the syntax is a very good match for what Smalltalk is about.

> By the way, have you looked at Guzdial's text book?  Also, have you
> looked on the Swiki lately?

A better question is how readily did he become aware of the resources that are available... or through what means did he find out about Smalltalk or Squeak.  That is much more interesting to me- once you're here on the mailing list,  a few questions would reveal where these other things are.

- les