Byte marks Smalltalk's 30thGary Fisher squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.orgTue Sep 17 01:11:40 UTC 2002
This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0015_01C25DC5.A6EA2B20 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi, Tommy! I'd agree that the column didn't imply a profound mastery of the subject matter . . . Still, the purpose of the article was to mark the anniversary of Smalltalk, and that it more or less does. Gary ----- Original Message ----- From: Tommy Thorn To: squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org Sent: Monday, September 16, 2002 8:35 PM Subject: Re: Byte marks Smalltalk's 30th gafisher at sprynet.com wrote: >As the medium through which most of the world first learned of >Smalltalk, it was expected that Byte Magazine would mark Smalltalk's >30th anniversary in some way. > <rant> Byte has stopped being relevant years ago, and this editorial just cements that fact. Martin (the Byte editor) clearly doesn't understand much about programming languages. Comments about all variables being pointers (hello?), pointing out that Smalltalk doesn't have a regular expression facility (thanks God!), etc. </rant> No ivory tower here though. Most Java and C++ programmer shouldn't have a hard time grasping Smalltalk. Just don't confuse them with exotic terminology such as, subject, nouns, messages, etc, but explain that it's really very similar: - Everything is dynamically typed - Methods just have an interesting syntax, eg x.addTwo(y,z) would be written x add: x and: z. - Integers are objects aswell except that they can be mutated in-place. - As part of the dynamic typing, the actual method invoked is found with a dynamic search, but based on static types. (Java's interface types is a static approximation to accomplish the same). - and show the basic control "structures", such as, ifTrue:ifFalse:, whileTrue:, etc. IHMO of course, Tommy ------=_NextPart_000_0015_01C25DC5.A6EA2B20 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; = charset=3Diso-8859-1"> <META content=3D"MSHTML 5.50.4912.300" name=3DGENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>Hi, Tommy!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>I'd agree that the column didn't imply = a profound mastery=20 of the subject matter . . .</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>Still, the purpose of the article was to mark the = anniversary=20 of Smalltalk, and that it more or less does.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>Gary</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE=20 style=3D"PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV=20 style=3D"BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B>=20 <A title=3Dthorn at meko.dk href=3D"mailto:thorn at meko.dk">Tommy Thorn</A> = </DIV> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A=20 title=3Dsqueak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org=20 = href=3D"mailto:squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org">squeak-dev at lists.sq= ueakfoundation.org</A>=20 </DIV> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, September 16, = 2002 8:35=20 PM</DIV> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Byte marks = Smalltalk's=20 30th</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><A = href=3D"mailto:gafisher at sprynet.com">gafisher at sprynet.com</A>=20 wrote:<BR><BR>>As the medium through which most of the world first = learned=20 of<BR>>Smalltalk, it was expected that Byte Magazine would mark=20 Smalltalk's<BR>>30th anniversary in some=20 way.<BR>><BR><rant><BR>Byte has stopped being relevant years = ago, and=20 this editorial just <BR>cements that fact.<BR><BR>Martin (the Byte = editor)=20 clearly doesn't understand much about <BR>programming languages. = Comments=20 about all variables being pointers <BR>(hello?), pointing out that = Smalltalk=20 doesn't have a regular expression <BR>facility (thanks God!),=20 etc.<BR></rant><BR><BR>No ivory tower here though. Most Java and = C++=20 programmer shouldn't have <BR>a hard time grasping Smalltalk. Just = don't=20 confuse them with exotic <BR>terminology such as, subject, nouns, = messages,=20 etc, but explain that <BR>it's really very similar:<BR>- Everything is = dynamically typed<BR>- Methods just have an interesting syntax, eg=20 x.addTwo(y,z) would be <BR>written x add: x and: z.<BR>- Integers are = objects=20 aswell except that they can be mutated in-place.<BR>- As part of the = dynamic=20 typing, the actual method invoked is found with <BR>a dynamic search, = but=20 based on static types. (Java's interface types is <BR>a static = approximation=20 to accomplish the same).<BR>- and show the basic control "structures", = such=20 as, ifTrue:ifFalse:, <BR>whileTrue:, etc.<BR><BR>IHMO of = course,<BR><BR> =20 Tommy<BR><BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML> ------=_NextPart_000_0015_01C25DC5.A6EA2B20--
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