Newbie point of view regarding Squeak

Malte Finsterwalder malte at finsterwalder.name
Tue Jan 4 09:06:48 UTC 2005


Hello Squeakers,

I'm also new to squeak, but I'm comming from a very different angle.
I'm a professional software developer for about 5 years now. I work in 
Java most of the time, since that's what the industry asks for at the 
moment. I want to learn Smalltalk to get a different view and because 
I'm unhappy with Java as a whole.

So here are my suggestions for a newbie-friendlier Squeak:

I think the standard-full-image has way too much stuff in it. I know 
that there is something like a "minimal" distribution with some of the 
overhead removed, but it's not posted on the download-page at 
squeak.org. I rather like the idea to start small and add as needed. In 
particular since SqueakMap makes adding packages so easy.

It's not so easy to find out what actually is part of the immage and 
what isn't. Is SUnit included? In what Version? How about Monticello? 
... I know this by now, but it's in general not so easy to find out.

Configuration is not very easy. There are a bunch of on/off preferences 
that can be adjusted rather easily, but are mostly undocumented.
Other things are even harder. e.g. I still didn't figure out how I can 
change the standard font, since it is a little too small for my high-res 
display.
An easier and better way to handle configuration in general would be 
very nice. For me configuration includes look and feel, keyboard 
shortcuts, ...

The unusual look and feel takes some time to get used to, but I know 
this is not easy to change, since Squeak is OS and hardware independent 
and draws it's own GUI. So it is reasonable to do it this way, but it's 
not very newbie friendly.

There are lots of information about Smalltalk in general and Squeak in 
particular on the internet, but I'm missing a "guideline". It's no fun 
to read 10 introductory tutorials just to see where I learn more. The 
Squeak-Books are very much centered around the multi-media capabilities 
of Squeak that are not my main concern.
I would be very helpfull to have a guide that points to further reading 
and gives suggestions for different topics of interest e.g.:
- General Introduction to Smalltalk
- General Introduction to Squeak
- Advanced Concepts
- Multi-Media
- Network-Programming (Web etc.)
- Standard Standalone MVC-Applications
- ...

Squeak is a rather complex system for a newbie. And hearing everywhere 
that it really isn't that complicated is no big help. The hint to "just 
read the source and browse the system" is no big help for a newbie to 
Smalltalk. Some more guidance as a start would be nice here and there.

Just my thoughts....

Greetings,
    Malte




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