December 2014 - Pharo-dev - lists.pharo.org

Re: [Pharo-dev] The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

by stepharo

Le 29/12/14 20:40, horrido a Ã©crit : > >From "The City on the Edge of Forever": > > KIRK: Then what is it? > GUARDIAN: *A question.* Since before your sun burned hot in space and before > your race was born, I have awaited a question. > KIRK: What are you? > GUARDIAN: I am the Guardian of Forever. > KIRK: Are you machine or being? > GUARDIAN: I am both and neither. I am my own beginning, my own ending. > > ----- > > Clearly, I need to explain myself in greater detail... > > The efforts of organizations such as STIC and ESUG are laudable. > Nevertheless, they have failed to popularize Smalltalk. Today, *Smalltalk is > a largely forgotten language*. This can be seen at the TIOBE index where > Smalltalk has literally fallen off a cliff (it used to be on the top 100 > list, but has since disappeared). At Redmonk and langpop.corger.nl, > Smalltalk is somewhere around the 65th position! So Smalltalk is dead and Pharo alive and kicking. No? > > Smalltalk does not get much developer attention. It doesn't get talked about > in the press like Dart and JavaScript and Java do. The language is almost > never on the minds of CEOs and CTOs, the business decision makers. I believe > I know why. > > Smalltalk organizations have focussed too much on /technical merit/, and not > enough on PR and marketing. On making money too. > Understandable, since engineers are > /technically-minded/ and not so much into human behaviour. I think we need > to treat developers and businessmen like consumers. We need to sell > Smalltalk to them in the same way we sell iPhones and PlayStations. In other > words, we need to build /hype/. We market Pharo as a new language because Pharo is cool and we do not have to carry with us the "old" aspects and fight against the museum syndrom. You can give a try we would prefer to market Pharo as Pharo. > > Let's face it: at the best of times, the subject of Smalltalk is rather > staid. STIC and ESUG and the Smalltalk Foundation are not likely to change > this. *I want Smalltalk Renaissance to change this.* ESUG is about the community. Without community then it is terrible. We set up also a program for teachers. Now in the US there is nearly nobody teaching smalltalk and this is a pity. > The Smalltalk Renaissance Program is a highly focussed campaign. Like the > language itself, I want to Keep It Simple. (That's why I'm trying to keep > the website clean and free of excess baggage.) > > The SRP cannot succeed without /your/ involvement, your participation. I am > not much more than the curator and editor for Smalltalk Renaissance, > although I'm also formulating the short-term and long-term strategy. (You > can call me "Generalissimo" Eng. ;-) ) > > One of the things I intend to do is ask members of the Smalltalk community > to submit /fresh/ essays and articles on Smalltalk. I have a list of essay > topics prepared, carefully chosen for their relevance and impact on the > future of Smalltalk. I shall be asking people to pick a topic and run with > it. If there are multiple submissions for a particular topic, I shall choose > the best one, edit it, and post it on Smalltalk Renaissance. *I guarantee > you will look good!* > > Make no mistake, this is a critical step. *These essays will address the > concerns of non-Smalltalk developers.* You need to make compelling > arguments. > > Then we promote these articles and essays on Reddit and Hacker News and so > on. > > In the near future, I will also submit Smalltalk articles to the IT press, > such as Wired and InfoWorld. These articles may well benefit from /your > contributions/. > > Another important piece of the strategy is to obtain corporate sponsorship. > If not for Apple, the Swift language would never have gotten so much > mindshare. If not for Google, Go would've failed to gain a significant > following. If not for Microsoft, C# would've been forgotten. In today's > highly competitive programming language field, if you don't have a big name > backer, you're already behind the eight ball. Grass roots are unlikely to > succeed. > > Getting the imprimatur of a major technology company is a PR coup of > inestimable value. But it's also vital for another reason. In the longer > term, I want to launch software projects that improve on the Smalltalk > technology. Projects such as extending the tooling around the Smalltalk > environment (which has been criticized for not playing well with existing > file-based tooling). Projects such as improving interoperability with > existing (Windows-based) infrastructures in the enterprise (which has been a > source of criticism from the likes of Robert Martin). These projects must be > financed because open source volunteerism isn't enough, not by a long shot. > And this is why we need corporate sponsorship. > > Before I make a pitch to a CEO, Smalltalk Renaissance must achieve some > degree of legitimacy. It can do this by signing up well-known names from the > Smalltalk community. Names such as the late James Robertson or StÃ©phane > Ducasse. I already have a draft letter prepared for an important CEO. I'm > only waiting for a list of SRP signatories before firing off the letter. > (Hint, hint.) > > This is what I've come up with so far in my strategic planning. It's a > work-in-progress. > > As for Pharo, I've downloaded it and played with it briefly. As far as I can > tell, the IDE is not much different from Squeak. Like I said, the design has > been tweaked and improved, but I don't see anything groundbreaking. Maybe > you and I have different ideas of what "groundbreaking" means. No but roma has not been done in a week. > > Nevertheless, as another poster indicated, we can leave this for the future. > For the time being, we need to make Smalltalk, and Pharo in particular, more > attractive to the Enterprise. I'm sure Pharo is doing this. Kudos.

Dec. 29, 2014

Re: [Pharo-dev] The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

by Alexandre Bergel

There is something that I cannot understand: What is the goal of pushing Smalltalk that way? I am certainly not trying to do so. In the way I see the World, Pharo is not Smalltalk, but inspired by Smalltalk. Actually, I would be tempted to say slightly inspired by Smalltalk as Pharo is taking a different path. Having Smalltalk low on the ranking does not bother me much. Having Pharo listed would be great although. Cheers, Alexandre > On Dec 29, 2014, at 8:40 PM, horrido <horrido.hobbies(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > From "The City on the Edge of Forever": > > KIRK: Then what is it? > GUARDIAN: *A question.* Since before your sun burned hot in space and before > your race was born, I have awaited a question. > KIRK: What are you? > GUARDIAN: I am the Guardian of Forever. > KIRK: Are you machine or being? > GUARDIAN: I am both and neither. I am my own beginning, my own ending. > > ----- > > Clearly, I need to explain myself in greater detail... > > The efforts of organizations such as STIC and ESUG are laudable. > Nevertheless, they have failed to popularize Smalltalk. Today, *Smalltalk is > a largely forgotten language*. This can be seen at the TIOBE index where > Smalltalk has literally fallen off a cliff (it used to be on the top 100 > list, but has since disappeared). At Redmonk and langpop.corger.nl, > Smalltalk is somewhere around the 65th position! > > Smalltalk does not get much developer attention. It doesn't get talked about > in the press like Dart and JavaScript and Java do. The language is almost > never on the minds of CEOs and CTOs, the business decision makers. I believe > I know why. > > Smalltalk organizations have focussed too much on /technical merit/, and not > enough on PR and marketing. Understandable, since engineers are > /technically-minded/ and not so much into human behaviour. I think we need > to treat developers and businessmen like consumers. We need to sell > Smalltalk to them in the same way we sell iPhones and PlayStations. In other > words, we need to build /hype/. > > Let's face it: at the best of times, the subject of Smalltalk is rather > staid. STIC and ESUG and the Smalltalk Foundation are not likely to change > this. *I want Smalltalk Renaissance to change this.* > > The Smalltalk Renaissance Program is a highly focussed campaign. Like the > language itself, I want to Keep It Simple. (That's why I'm trying to keep > the website clean and free of excess baggage.) > > The SRP cannot succeed without /your/ involvement, your participation. I am > not much more than the curator and editor for Smalltalk Renaissance, > although I'm also formulating the short-term and long-term strategy. (You > can call me "Generalissimo" Eng. ;-) ) > > One of the things I intend to do is ask members of the Smalltalk community > to submit /fresh/ essays and articles on Smalltalk. I have a list of essay > topics prepared, carefully chosen for their relevance and impact on the > future of Smalltalk. I shall be asking people to pick a topic and run with > it. If there are multiple submissions for a particular topic, I shall choose > the best one, edit it, and post it on Smalltalk Renaissance. *I guarantee > you will look good!* > > Make no mistake, this is a critical step. *These essays will address the > concerns of non-Smalltalk developers.* You need to make compelling > arguments. > > Then we promote these articles and essays on Reddit and Hacker News and so > on. > > In the near future, I will also submit Smalltalk articles to the IT press, > such as Wired and InfoWorld. These articles may well benefit from /your > contributions/. > > Another important piece of the strategy is to obtain corporate sponsorship. > If not for Apple, the Swift language would never have gotten so much > mindshare. If not for Google, Go would've failed to gain a significant > following. If not for Microsoft, C# would've been forgotten. In today's > highly competitive programming language field, if you don't have a big name > backer, you're already behind the eight ball. Grass roots are unlikely to > succeed. > > Getting the imprimatur of a major technology company is a PR coup of > inestimable value. But it's also vital for another reason. In the longer > term, I want to launch software projects that improve on the Smalltalk > technology. Projects such as extending the tooling around the Smalltalk > environment (which has been criticized for not playing well with existing > file-based tooling). Projects such as improving interoperability with > existing (Windows-based) infrastructures in the enterprise (which has been a > source of criticism from the likes of Robert Martin). These projects must be > financed because open source volunteerism isn't enough, not by a long shot. > And this is why we need corporate sponsorship. > > Before I make a pitch to a CEO, Smalltalk Renaissance must achieve some > degree of legitimacy. It can do this by signing up well-known names from the > Smalltalk community. Names such as the late James Robertson or StÃ©phane > Ducasse. I already have a draft letter prepared for an important CEO. I'm > only waiting for a list of SRP signatories before firing off the letter. > (Hint, hint.) > > This is what I've come up with so far in my strategic planning. It's a > work-in-progress. > > As for Pharo, I've downloaded it and played with it briefly. As far as I can > tell, the IDE is not much different from Squeak. Like I said, the design has > been tweaked and improved, but I don't see anything groundbreaking. Maybe > you and I have different ideas of what "groundbreaking" means. > > Nevertheless, as another poster indicated, we can leave this for the future. > For the time being, we need to make Smalltalk, and Pharo in particular, more > attractive to the Enterprise. I'm sure Pharo is doing this. Kudos. > > > > > -- > View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/The-Smalltalk-Renaissance-Program-tp4797112p4797313.h… > Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Developers mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > -- _,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;: Alexandre Bergel http://www.bergel.eu ^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;.

Dec. 29, 2014