Smalltalk: Requiem or Resurgence? {Dr. Dobb's Journal (05/06/06)
Chan, Jeremy}
Klaus D. Witzel
klaus.witzel at cobss.com
Wed May 10 18:44:24 UTC 2006
Quote:
Jonah Group principal consultant Jeremy Chan cannot verify a resurgence in
the use of the Smalltalk object-oriented language as indicated by Georg
Heeg at the recent Smalltalk Solutions Conference, noting that none of his
company's customer requests exhibit a desire for Smalltalk. Chan writes
that Smalltalk's status as a OO language does not really provide an
explanation of why it might be superior to other OO languages, and why,
given such alleged superiority, it has been displaced by the likes of Java
and C# as the most preferred language for enterprises in the last decade.
"This is the essence of the Smalltalk Paradox," Chan says. The author
reasons that developers may have difficulty relating Smalltalk's
programming concepts, presented by defining the language's five principal
vocabulary terms (object, message, class, instance, and method), to
something else they already know. The vocabulary defines four rules of the
language: All things are objects; all objects represent instances of some
class; objects perform tasks by sending messages; and messages are
deployed via methods. Chan attributes Smalltalk's lack of popularity to
several factors, including the defensive posture Smalltalk developers
assume when the language's superiority is questioned, and the absence of a
major industry backer with the marketing muscle to facilitate Smalltalk's
mainstream penetration. The author believes the Smalltalk community would
receive a significant boost by attracting outsiders and discussing
collaboration.
Unquote.
- http://www.ddj.com/dept/architect/187200914
/Klaus
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