3 HN users recommended this talk3 months2016–2024score 3.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN commenters point Rubyists and the Smalltalk-curious to it as an approachable introduction that shows the Smalltalk system browser and Pharo environment in action.
Noel Rappin's MountainWest RubyConf talk introduces Smalltalk to Ruby programmers. He compares the two languages' object models, blocks, 1-based arrays, simple syntax and live programming environment, and walks through sample code.
I came across a video showing Pharo and Smalltalk that blew me away[0] and I completely agree with you. In some fields, we are heading back in this direction with literate programming (notebooks) and new languages like Dark that attempt to rethink some of our ingrained traditions for engineering workflows. I'm working on a project in this space too. There is still hope! [0] - MountainWest RubyConf 2014 - But Really, You Should Learn Smalltalk ( [this video] )
> The colorful Playskool environment That was likely Squeak, not Pharo. Pharo has muted a lot of the UI colours to be more appropriate for a business environment. > How anyone could possibly be productive in such an environment. What is it that's so attractive about it to Smalltalkers? Perhaps its useful to get some outsiders perspectives.... Avdi Grimm has written a few books about Ruby. He records his experience trying Pharo in "I make you hate Ruby in 7 minutes" [link] Noel Rappin has written a few books about Ruby & Javascript. He provides an introduction to Smalltalk in "MountainWest RubyConf 2014 - But Really, You Should Learn Smalltalk" [this video]
Because it managed to produce frictionless adoption in academia. All the rest is downstream of that. MVPs in entrepreneurial initiatives are done with that. RESTful APIs are based on the prototypes that come from academia. Good libraries for data processing of lots of data required by academic studies became easily adopted there. So a less-effort/easiest-convenience law inside academia made it win. BTW, if you enjoy Ruby, watch this: [this video]
You might like Smalltalk. Programs are stored as images. An image holds the entire (fully introspectable, editable) runtime and your program. You can browse through your image with a powerful suite of built-in tools. Pieces of the image can be "filed out", or serialized to a file format. You can see an example at 15:00 of this video - some snippets of code and then showing the System Browser. [this video]
Anders explains it better than me, "Anders Hejlsberg on Modern Compiler Construction" [link] Basically ability to see the language AST at all time, do time checking with broken code, incremental compilation, REPL and IDE editing experience is fused together. Here is another short examples, "7 minutes of Pharo Smalltalk for Rubyists" [link] "MountainWest RubyConf 2014 - But Really, You Should Learn Smalltalk" [this video]
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