Writing the following message, which I wrote as an introduction to Fossasiaâs prospective Smalltalk GSoC students, vividly reminded me of why I love Smalltalk. So naturally, I want to share it with our community⦠- Sean
Congratulations on finding Smalltalk. I doubt you have any idea how important this could be for you.
You may not realize it, but you have opened a portal to some of the greatest minds in the history of our industry. In the beginning, for many of our heroes - Doug Engelbart, Alan Kay, Seymour Papert - computing was about the possibility of evolving the general level of human thought for the benefit of mankind. Effective critical thinking is vital to modern life e.g. the proper functioning of democratic governments. Yet traditional media have been ineffective at improving our thought on a large scale. Today, weâre mostly glorified "caveman with briefcases", reacting to the same human universals as our distant ancestors - Fantasies, Stories, Superstition, Religion/Magic, Vendetta.
So what does this have to do with computing?!
Iâm glad you asked :) In 1972, Alan Kay envisioned a "dynamic medium for creative thought" which he called a Dynabook [2]. It was an answer to the problem described above - a computer to support and guide minds to the level required to overcome our uglier instincts, and replace them with our highest ideas, like Equal Rights, Democracy, Slow Deep Thinking, Legal System over Vendetta, Theory of Harmony - ideas which do not take seed on their own, but must be actively nurtured.
So what does this have to do with programming?!
Iâm glad you asked that, too :) Smalltalk is interim[3] Dynabook software! You have in your hands, not a programming language, but a live, dynamic, turtles-all-the-way-down environment designed to provide "support for the creative spirit in everyone".
More practically, Smalltalk is a programming tool that allows productivity unimaginable in most systems. And, if you put in enough time and effort to actually think in it, it will help you program better in any language you use. But, I think it would be a great waste if you left Smalltalk "a better programmer", when the questions before you are: - What really matters? - How can computers fulfill on that? - How can I, as a programmer, contribute to that?
Ideas for research: - Dynabook. Any of the original documents can be found easily online, but particularly: - Afterword: What is a Dynabook - Personal Dynamic Media - Smalltalk: Design Principles Behind Smalltalk - Ivan Sutherlandâs Sketchpad - Doug Engelbart & "The Mother of All Demos" - Selfâs Morphic papers
[1] Although few answers to date have been as thoughtful and daring as LISP and Smalltalk [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynabook [3] The Dynabook is a Platonic ideal, as so any implementation is just a step along the way in an infinite game