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SmallTalk (SmallTalk-80)

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 7:58 am
by Jenk
Wow.. I'm err.. confused!

Trying to read up on this language, and whilst I am sure it is fabulous - dang is it hard for me to grasp it!

I've been reading This Guide which is aimed at introducing people who can read Java/C (or any 'curly brace' syntax) to SmallTalk and I've started to get the gist but it keeps losing me and I have to refer to past paragraphs :lol:

I'm seeing all kinds of flavors in this language.. I've noticed Perl, *sh (bash/ksh/tsh/etc) Java, C(++) the dreaded COBOL (which is expected as it is derived from it..) and many more.. did they all, with the exception of COBOL, derive from SmallTalk?

It's like reading George Orwell's 1984 and realising "So THAT's where it comes from!"

Anyway.. enough of the blog!

Does anyone have any good links I can read up on for grasping SmallTalk? I've read most of the articles at smalltalk.org, but was hoping there will be much more on the web. :)

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:04 am
by jayshields
I've just read a bit of that pdf, seems weird. Why on Earth would you like to know how to read SmallTalk?

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:10 am
by Jenk
Primarily because someone may be paying me to use it. :P

But since I've started researching it, it's helped me realise there's a lot more to programming than curly braces, and I remember someone suggesting that I read a new paradigm, not just a new language, to get a better understanding of how things work. :)

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 4:00 pm
by Ambush Commander
Smalltalk is a very pretty language. I wish I had some time to play around with it, but I've never been able to get some sort of development environment working with it. I find that the best way to learn how to read a language is to actually write it. ;-)

I got some exposure to Smalltalk while reading the seminal Design Patterns (GoF). It's probably a good place for some examples that are simple enough to wrap your head around.

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:33 pm
by Jenk
When I stop these 12 hour working days I'll be giving making an app with it a shot, until then I'm stuck reading about it in my lunch breaks :)