I'm new here also so I'll just answer the easy ones. Gerry Weaver wrote:
2. There appear to be some tool choices in the Pharo image. I would like to be able to create a class and it's methods in an editor in one go. I like being able to see all of the class code at once. Is there a way to do this? I just want to be able to type it all in and accept (evaluate?) all at once.
I think GNU smalltalk would be your only option - and would not have everything that you want for a client GUI applicaton. When I first started using Smalltalk I didn't realise that I was used to holding in my mind a "visual map" of where things were in the source files, and for a while I was uncomfortable like I could not "map" Smalltalk the same way. I have now adapted. As well as the differences in language and the live image IDE environment, the development cycle can be quite different. At its extreme, you write the test code first with then run it and before even writing the application code [1]. When the expected runtime error occurs the debugger opens and you add application code from within the debugger with the full context of variables available at that instant against which you experiment with code snippets until you get what you want. [1] http://squeak.preeminent.org/tut2007/html/011.html
3. I've seen some discussion about images and image sizes. What is the current state of this. Is it possible to strip an image down to just the required components for an application (ie; no world menu, etc.). I would like to be able to run an image that would bring my gui application up filling the image window such that it looks a close as possible to a conventional gui application.
From my perspective, now that ram, disk space and Internet pipes are comparatively huge (to not very long ago) I think that file size of the image is not a real concern for an application. The stripping down of the image is still important for the Pharo "distribution" to reduce You don't need to strip out the IDE - you just turn it off - see [2]. In fact leaving the disabled IDE in the image might be useful if the client has a runtime problem with the application. Rather than "I can't reproduce it" you can potentially get the client to save the application image and send it to you. When you open the application you will have the exact state that the user, on which you can open a debugger. In the "ideal" case, you can fix it in that image and then send the image back to them and they can continue from where they left off. [2] http://squeak.preeminent.org/tut2007/html/205.html