Absolutely --- even today, if you fire up an implementation like Pharo, what you get is a Smalltalk VM in a window, complete with its own custom windowing syste

Absolutely --- even today, if you fire up an implementation like Pharo, what you get is a Smalltalk VM in a window, complete with its own custom windowing system. I don't want a Smalltalk windowing system. I've got one already, thanks. It gets worse when you actually try to write substantial amounts of code; because Smalltalk doesn't store source in files, and everything's built in to images, you don't get to use standard source control workflows. The last time I looked at Smalltalk, it had its own VCS called Monticello. That's showstopping, for me. (Although I notice that Monticello seems to have git integration these days.) There are a few command-line Smalltalks around, GNU Smalltalk being the most well-known. It's so much nicer to work with as it integrates well with the command line. It's a bit crufty and unloved, unfortunately, and even though it has a JIT the speed doesn't seem to be great.