election details *PLEASE READ*

Andreas Raab andreas.raab at gmx.de
Wed Feb 21 06:59:34 UTC 2007


>> 4) What do you believe is the future of Smalltalk?
> 
> I believe every other language is asymptotically approaching Smalltalk.

Hm. Can't really let this statement stand by itself. While I think 
(hope) it isn't meant that way I find ignorance one of the hardest 
things to tolerate. Saying that "every other language is asymptotically 
approaching Smalltalk" sounds too much like "and therefore we can safely 
ignore them" to my mind. My wish for people representing Squeak (not 
only, but particularly those) would be to be open and engaging in 
discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of each system and 
language. This means acknowledging that other languages (including Java) 
have their strengths (yes, including Java) and that a discussion 
(regardless of its outcome) about what parts may be worthwhile to adopt 
in the context of Squeak is desirable and should be held with an open 
mind towards improving both language and system.

Personally, I think Python is a good example in this regard. There are a 
lot of new features proposed every time and they are often weighed based 
on how "Pythonic" they feel (which is a beautifully underspecified term 
to keep the discussion open and discuss how a feature relates in the 
context of other language features). And while I will admit that 
language changes can go overboard (recently I discovered 
"whitespaceless" Python which is about as *disgusting* a language abuse 
as they get) a lot of good features get integrated in Python by looking 
at and learning from other languages and systems.

In any case, I think it is important for people representing Squeak to 
stay open to improvements *to the language* and not just to claim that 
"eventually, every other language will get there so really there will 
never, ever be anything to learn here".

Cheers,
   - Andreas



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