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Reviving Smalltalk-78: The First Modern Smalltalk Lives Again (2014) [pdf]

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Re: Reviving Smalltalk-78: The First Modern Smalltalk Lives Again (2014) [pdf]

#5

Smalltalk running in a browser with the help of JavaScript and cloud... They definetely didn't planned that in 1978!

Actually they did. It's just loading a Smalltalk image over the network into a VM. That's fundamentally what the Smalltalk systems of the '70s were designed to do.

Re: Reviving Smalltalk-78: The First Modern Smalltalk Lives Again (2014) [pdf]

#7
post #4

If you want to play online: http://lively-web.org/users/bert/Smalltalk-78.html

It took a minute to load, brought my beefy laptop to its knees and every character key press takes half a second to display... Probably the most faithful recreation of the Smalltalk I used to use in the late 80s.

Re: Reviving Smalltalk-78: The First Modern Smalltalk Lives Again (2014) [pdf]

#9
post #8

I like to joke (only half-joke) Smalltalk-80 makes Java-2015 look somewhat primitive in comparison. Around PARC is the place where the future was least evenly distributed.

You mean it's a great improvement on its successors?

Re: Reviving Smalltalk-78: The First Modern Smalltalk Lives Again (2014) [pdf]

#10
post #8

I like to joke (only half-joke) Smalltalk-80 makes Java-2015 look somewhat primitive in comparison. Around PARC is the place where the future was least evenly distributed.

>I like to joke (only half-joke) Smalltalk-80 makes Java-2015 look somewhat primitive in comparison.

It's not a half-joke, it's a fact.

The only places I'd say Java is better is number of libraries (obviously) and compiler/GC (whose legacy comes from later Smalltalk-oriented works anyway).

If Smalltalk images could work in some hybrid mode, where you get all the regular benefits, but with a "normal" editor and/or IDE too, and in plain text, it would be golden.

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