4 ms·

Have you got an example of Alan Kay's use of smalltalk for presenting? I'm quite curious how it would look - my googling turned up a few videos but nothing part

by smcl 9y ago

Have you got an example of Alan Kay's use of smalltalk for presenting? I'm quite curious how it would look - my googling turned up a few videos but nothing particularly out of the ordinary (indeed it wasn't even obvious that he wasn't using powerpoint)

vanderZwan 9y ago
In this video, around the 38 minute mark, he shows a video in a slide, and I believe a few "slides" later runs a bridge simulation: https://vimeo.com/82301919 https://vimeo.com/82301919 (I can't watch this with sound right now, so I'm not sure if he mentions using SmallTalk to present here) But as you can see, you're right: it's not obvious at all. Despite the valid complaints raised in the linked article, the structure imposed by slides is helpful in its simplicity; plus the audience knows how to "read" them, which is also important. The point however is that he doesn't need special software, SmallTalk is kind of set up to let you do everything PowerPoint does. On top of that he has the ability to integrate scripted stuff to his presentations because, SmallTalk is by definition a live coding environment. This does require mastery of the language and its Morphic UI Framework[0]. But on the other hand: that is one of the biggest reasons to learn SmallTalk (or Squeak) anyway. TBH, I'm talking from a purely theoretical perspective. I've tried and failed to dive into Pharo a few times[1]. But its live coding aspects have always fascinated me, and Moose and Mondrian look like pretty interesting tools for dataviz too [2][3][4]. [0] http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks/CollectiveNBlueBook/morphic.final.pdf http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks/CollectiveNBlueBoo... [1] http://pharo.org/ http://pharo.org/ [2] https://vimeo.com/97315968 https://vimeo.com/97315968 [3] http://www.moosetechnology.org/ http://www.moosetechnology.org/ [4] http://pharobooks.gforge.inria.fr/PharoByExampleTwo-Eng/latest/Mondrian.pdf http://pharobooks.gforge.inria.fr/PharoByExampleTwo-Eng/late...
- smcl 9y ago
  Amazing - thanks for taking the time to dig all this out! I'm going to enjoy going through these links

by smcl 9y ago

vanderZwan 9y ago

In this video, around the 38 minute mark, he shows a video in a slide, and I believe a few "slides" later runs a bridge simulation: https://vimeo.com/82301919 https://vimeo.com/82301919 (I can't watch this with sound right now, so I'm not sure if he mentions using SmallTalk to present here) But as you can see, you're right: it's not obvious at all. Despite the valid complaints raised in the linked article, the structure imposed by slides is helpful in its simplicity; plus the audience knows how to "read" them, which is also important. The point however is that he doesn't need special software, SmallTalk is kind of set up to let you do everything PowerPoint does. On top of that he has the ability to integrate scripted stuff to his presentations because, SmallTalk is by definition a live coding environment. This does require mastery of the language and its Morphic UI Framework[0]. But on the other hand: that is one of the biggest reasons to learn SmallTalk (or Squeak) anyway. TBH, I'm talking from a purely theoretical perspective. I've tried and failed to dive into Pharo a few times[1]. But its live coding aspects have always fascinated me, and Moose and Mondrian look like pretty interesting tools for dataviz too [2][3][4]. [0] http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks/CollectiveNBlueBook/morphic.final.pdf http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks/CollectiveNBlueBoo... [1] http://pharo.org/ http://pharo.org/ [2] https://vimeo.com/97315968 https://vimeo.com/97315968 [3] http://www.moosetechnology.org/ http://www.moosetechnology.org/ [4] http://pharobooks.gforge.inria.fr/PharoByExampleTwo-Eng/latest/Mondrian.pdf http://pharobooks.gforge.inria.fr/PharoByExampleTwo-Eng/late...

smcl 9y ago
Amazing - thanks for taking the time to dig all this out! I'm going to enjoy going through these links