Smalltalk - Smalltalk isKindOfLike: Yogurt

Author

Smalltalk isKindOfLike: Yogurt

D. Raab

2004-05-23, 8:31 pm

I was thinking recently of a good analogy for Smalltalk. I think
Smalltalk is a lot like yogurt. With the exception that you needn't
avoid it if you are lactose intolerant.

Yogurt is simple. It has loads of good bacteria. It helps you absorb
b-vitamins, and reduces stress. It acts a soothing agent for spicy
foods. There are lots of different flavors and it goes great with a
multitude of fruits and nuts. Most people don't eat yogurt
voluntarily the first time, regardless of the health benefits they are
told about. My mom made me try it once, since I wasn't going to do so
voluntarily. Now I won't have a hot curry without a yogurt waiting in
the wings.

Smalltalk is simple. It has loads of helpful classes. It helps you
solve problems and have fun. It scales very well to complex problems.
There are many vendor implementations, and it integrates with many
different technologies. I learned and used VisualAge Smalltalk while
working for IBM. IBM's former Object Technology University program
made me learn it. It has since shaped the way I think about solving
problems in any OO language I program in.

I offer the following up as more evidence that Smalltalk is like
yogurt. Replace all instances of "Smalltalk" with "Yogurt" in the
following film script, and I think you will see what I mean.

--------------------------

A scene from Object Wars (A parody of "Spaceballs" the movie):

(several younger 3GLs s

out Smalltalk in search of enlightenment)

Smalltalk: Silence! Who dares enter the sacred and awesome presence of
the everlasting know-it-all, Smalltalk.

Java, C##, Visual Basic, Perl: Smalltalk?

(The bottom of the statue opens up. A Smalltalk about 3 feet tall
comes out.)

Smalltalk: You heard of me?

Java: Heard of ya? Who hasn't heard of Smalltalk?

C#: Smalltalk, the wise.

Visual Basic: Smalltalk, the all powerful.

Perl: Smalltalk, the magnificent.

Smalltalk: Please, please, don't make a fuss. I'm just plain
Smalltalk.

Java: But you're the one....

Smalltalk: Yes. I am the keeper of a greater magic. A power known
throughout the universe, known as....

Perl: The scripts?

Smalltalk: No. The Messages.

---------------------------

If you haven't seen Spaceballs, rent the movie, and you'll probably
enjoy it.

So here's the problem with Smalltalk and Yogurt. Most people won't
try yogurt unless you gently coax them into it. Smalltalk is pretty
much the same in this respect. I recommend every Smalltalker teach
3-5 other developers Smalltalk. All developers should enjoy the
health benefits of Smalltalk and yogurt.

I'm teaching Smalltalk to any and every talented developer I come
across. I've enlisted 3 Java developers so far this year to learn
Smalltalk, and am working on another 3-4. I'm doing this in the hopes
that it will help them to become better OO programmers. I can only
hope that they'll get an opportunity to use Smalltalk in a
professional endeavor, as I once did. If not, at least they will push
whatever OO language they work with to it's limits, and will learn not
to be satisfied with inadequacies in a langauge, tool or IDE.

May the Smalltalk be with you!

Cheers,
Don

Vlastimil Adamovsky

2004-05-24, 2:32 pm

"D. Raab" <octadon@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c12b0275.0405231508.4791b3d1@posting.google.com...
>

........edited to fit the viewer's screen....

> So here's the problem with Smalltalk and Yogurt. Most people won't
> try yogurt unless you gently coax them into it. Smalltalk is pretty
> much the same in this respect. I recommend every Smalltalker teach
> 3-5 other developers Smalltalk.

What Smalltalk? What version? What vendor? If you learns VA, you will not
get job as a VW developer.

>All developers should enjoy the
> health benefits of Smalltalk and yogurt.

Smalltalk is as a yogurt. You take it for your self, for your health....

>
> I'm teaching Smalltalk to any and every talented developer I come
> across. I've enlisted 3 Java developers so far this year to learn
> Smalltalk, and am working on another 3-4. I'm doing this in the hopes
> that it will help them to become better OO programmers. >

It will.....

>
>I can only
> hope that they'll get an opportunity to use Smalltalk

I doubt.....

> in a
> professional endeavor, as I once did. If not, at least they will push
> whatever OO language they work with to it's limits, and will learn not
> to be satisfied with inadequacies in a langauge, tool or IDE.
>
> May the Smalltalk be with you!

Nice prayer..:)

Vlastik

Jason Dufair

2004-06-03, 7:28 pm

octadon@yahoo.com (D. Raab) writes:

> I was thinking recently of a good analogy for Smalltalk. I think
> Smalltalk is a lot like yogurt. With the exception that you needn't
> avoid it if you are lactose intolerant.

Nicely done. Though I'm lactose intolerant (to a medium degree) and
have no trouble with yogurt.

I think Smalltalk is like Chocolate. You just can't get enough of it.
Unlike chocolate, huge amounts of it don't make you sick - you just keep
wanting more.
--
Jason Dufair - jase@dufair.org
http://www.dufair.org/
"Being in politics is like being a football coach.
You have to be smart enough to understand the game,
and dumb enough to think it's important."
-- Eugene McCarthy

Ian Upright

2004-06-03, 7:28 pm

Here's my take on things..

Smalltalk is like an apache hellicopter.
Java is like a B52 bomber with pretty heavy duty jet engines.

Smalltalk is very well thought out, extremely well engineered, very
flexible, and generally gives quite good performance in a multitude of
situations. It's very adaptable to many different situations, and has lots
of tricks up it's sleeve. Driving it is a bit of a paradigm shift from
driving your average plane, it has some new fancy controls, but once you get
the hang of it, it can be totally amazing and really fun. Even if you don't
totally know what you're doing you can still get yourself out of a jam.
Given that you've got a good pilot you can launch off to a quick start and
really do some very heavy and impressive damage in a very short time. It
also tends to perform quite impressively if you've got a few of them around,
and easier to coordinate an army of them.

Java is pretty difficult to drive, and once you get it going in a certain
direction it's pretty hard to get it going somewhere else. It has a few
turbo buttons on it so that if you really know when and where to use it, it
can fly pretty well. You can surely get it going really fast if you fly it
high enough and then point it straight into the ground. It's generally not
very flexible and often a real pain to deal with, but overall once you've
got a flightplan fixed in stone you can fly it reasonably well and run it
reasonably efficiently. If you are meticulous in your planning and
implementation, it can really deliver the goods. If you make some mistakes,
things can go very wrong that may become almost impossible to correct.
Don't count on any big changes, quick maneuvers, or any sort of fancy tricks
that just might save the day, and leave yourself a good bit of time for
planning and implementation before you expect to be able to deliver the
goods. If you come accross any surprise attacks or come up against an
Apache hellicopter, you could be doomed.

Ian

octadon@yahoo.com (D. Raab) wrote:

>I was thinking recently of a good analogy for Smalltalk. I think
>Smalltalk is a lot like yogurt. With the exception that you needn't
>avoid it if you are lactose intolerant.
[snip]

---
http://www.upright.net/ian/

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