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Pharo 9

pharo.org

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Re: Pharo 9

#91
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think OO has fallen out of fashion because there's a perception it can more easily lead to confusing code. While one can write confusing code using FP, it's not as easy to do.

What's FP?

Functional programming

Re: Pharo 9

#92
post #77

The page seems to be going out of it's way to not mention the word "Smalltalk". Does anyone have an idea why that is? Does Smalltalk have such a bad reputation nowadays or has someone trademarked the term?

I've noticed that as well - it's a bit strange given that Pharo is a fork of Squeak, which does proclaim its ST origins on its front page. I wouldn't say Smalltalk has a bad rep nowadays, but it used to be knocked for being too expensive (the cost of ST licences back when was beyond a joke), too slow, and producing nasty-looking non-native GUIs. These have almost all been fixed.

It has basically two reasons. First, it is to prevent conflicts like: "Pharo is Smalltalk, look, it is written on its web page! How do dare you to change this? You are allowed to improve this if and only if all the other Smalltalk implementations do that too!" [exaggerating]. Pharo has many differences from standard Smalltalk (different File API, class definitions, traits, slots, small grammar changes...).

The second reason is that the general knowledge about Smalltalk is very poor, and most people only remember that it is something old and long dead. Try to sell a dead fish.

Re: Pharo 9

#93
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed that as well - it's a bit strange given that Pharo is a fork of Squeak, which does proclaim its ST origins on its front page. I wouldn't say Smalltalk has a bad rep nowadays, but it used to be knocked for being too expensive (the cost of ST licences back when was beyond a joke), too slow, and producing nasty-looking non-native GUIs. These have almost all been fixed.

hm, does Pharo have native-looking GUI now?

see this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27843214

Re: Pharo 9

#94
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed that as well - it's a bit strange given that Pharo is a fork of Squeak, which does proclaim its ST origins on its front page. I wouldn't say Smalltalk has a bad rep nowadays, but it used to be knocked for being too expensive (the cost of ST licences back when was beyond a joke), too slow, and producing nasty-looking non-native GUIs. These have almost all been fixed.

hm, does Pharo have native-looking GUI now?

Well, let's say "better" :-) There was a Smalltalk with a native Windows GUI (Dolphin) but the developers couldn't seem to make any money out if it.

Re: Pharo 9

#95
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe Smalltalk sounds old like COBOL. It's hard to re-kindle interest in old tech in the eyes of new devs. It seems every generation of programmers want to have their "own" tools, even if they're worse than the previous ones.

You mean like C, born in 1972?

C never really fell out of favor, though. And it's also the only available choice apart from assembler in many circumstances. But trying to revive interest in Ada, D, Sather, Prolog, etc would be a lot more difficult.

Re: Pharo 9

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the more usual wording is " given a free rein", which makes it a little clearer. A monarch isn't given their reign, it's theirs by right (well, with a bit of hand-waving. Or possibly sword-waving, but not since Henry VII).

For English kings you forgot William III

Actually I think the last king to go into battle at all was George II.

Re: Pharo 9

#97
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean like C, born in 1972?

C never really fell out of favor, though. And it's also the only available choice apart from assembler in many circumstances. But trying to revive interest in Ada, D, Sather, Prolog, etc would be a lot more difficult.

It was already out of favour in the early 80's, hence C.A.Hoare turing award speech against it in 1980, but then UNIX took over the world anyway, and the FOSS wave with GNU Manifesto helped to take it further.

Apparently people don't have any issue hanging to an OS about the same age as COBOL.

Re: Pharo 9

#98

Thank you very much for explaining what Pharo is in one sentence on the linked page. Seriously, other projects and submissions should take notice because the general attitude is as if everybody knew exactly what your project is and what can be used for.

truth to be told, we learned that the hard way ;) but we learned! :P

Re: Pharo 9

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a lesson I was expecting to learn today, but here we are. I always thought it was the "reign" version because monarchs can "reign freely".

Yeah, the more usual wording is " given a free rein", which makes it a little clearer. A monarch isn't given their reign, it's theirs by right (well, with a bit of hand-waving. Or possibly sword-waving, but not since Henry VII).

The last English king to try to reign with no constraints was Charles I, it didn't end well for him.

Re: Pharo 9

#100
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean like C, born in 1972?

C never really fell out of favor, though. And it's also the only available choice apart from assembler in many circumstances. But trying to revive interest in Ada, D, Sather, Prolog, etc would be a lot more difficult.

Smalltalk never really got substantial adoption...
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