With very few exceptions, no important programming language ever ���dies.��� Even APL and Forth are still in use today, if only in a small way (including their derivatives like J and Factor).

But from the perspective of the programming community at large, if a programming language no longer has a large user base, it���s effectively dead. This may not be fair but there you have it.

We may argue that it doesn���t matter. If Smalltalk serves a small community well, that���s the important thing.

I take a broader perspective. We live in a technological world where software development productivity is a serious bottleneck. Smalltalk has the potential to greatly alleviate this bottleneck. Cutting development time in half (or better) matters a lot. This, I believe, is what we must fight for.

We may fail. Indeed, we probably will fail. But if we don���t try, we definitely will fail.

Cheers,
Richard

Lorenzo wrote:

You are absolutely right!

Lorenzo

-----Messaggio originale----- Da: Esteban Maringolo [mailto:emaringolo@gmail.com] Inviato: domenica 25 luglio 2021 17:54 A: Any question about pharo is welcome pharo-users@lists.pharo.org Oggetto: [Pharo-users] Re: The Greatest Contributors to Smalltalk since 1980

On Sun, Jul 25, 2021 at 11:31 AM Tim Mackinnon tim@testit.works wrote:

Isn���t this the wrong question to ask? I���m assuming this is to do with Smalltalk���s 50th anniversary, and of course we are grateful to those early pioneers who did lots of work in the field 20-30 years ago but to me that���s the old history and while it���s interesting to call out, it doesn���t shed life on the day to day energy we have today - whst keeps Smalltalk alive and current.

Hi share the view, it's the wrong question, and it pursues that "hero worshipping" culture that is already dead (or at least outdated) since a long time ago.

Additionally, I don't share the "keeping Smalltalk alive" expression, as if dying was its inevitable outcome. I haven't heard "keeping LISP alive" (and I don't call LISP as dead either). It would be self-deceiving to call ourselves mainstream, but that doesn't mean we're doomed somehow.

So in 50 years we should celebrate the half-century, remember the history, look at what we did "wrong", and focus on looking forward, because "the best way to predict the future is to invent it" ;-)

Regards!

Esteban A. Maringolo