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It could be argued that garbage collection, polymorphism, lambdas, and REPLs were semi-mainstreamed by Smalltalk. That's not to say that it was the first appear
by stcredzero 7y ago
It could be argued that garbage collection, polymorphism, lambdas, and REPLs were semi-mainstreamed by Smalltalk. That's not to say that it was the first appearance of those features. However, it was a big incursion into mainstream awareness. In 2019, all of those things are squarely mainstream. In the 1990's, lots of programmers regarded them akin to "woo."
- mcguire 7y agoWas Smalltalk ever mainstream? It was explored briefly in the early '90s at IBM (Hi, OS/2 Workplace Shell!), but the general consensus before the project was cancelled was to go with C/C++. I suppose education also saw some use, but various Lisps have most, if not all, of the above features and much more mainstream use in the '80s.
- stcredzero 7y agoWas Smalltalk ever mainstream? I'd say mainstream adjacent, like Lisp. There was once 80% penetration into the Fortune 500. various Lisps have most, if not all, of the above features and much more mainstream use in the '80s. One could argue that Smalltalk was designed in part to be a "Lisp for children." So of course, Lisps already had those features.
- futureastronaut 7y ago> One could argue that Smalltalk was designed in part to be a "Lisp for children." This is the first time I've heard that, do you have a source?
- stcredzero 7y agoThis is the first time I've heard that, do you have a source? This is very widely known inside the language community and beyond. It's mentioned in many keynotes and talks by Alan Kay and others. You can go to the Wikipedia page and search for "children" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smalltalk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smalltalk Also, there's this article. Search for "children" http://worrydream.com/EarlyHistoryOfSmalltalk/#smalltalkAndChildren http://worrydream.com/EarlyHistoryOfSmalltalk/#smalltalkAndC... In one keynote talk, Alan Kay stated that the design goal was to create a common programming substrate usable by everyone, from children, to hobbyists, to enterprise programmers, to researchers. Arguably, they succeeded.
- futureastronaut 7y agoI'm aware of Smalltalk being promoted in educational settings. What I wanted to know more about was "Lisp for children" which I've never heard before.
- lispm 7y agoYes, sounds strange. Actually the programming language LOGO would be that: LISP for children.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]