Smalltalk was, and in many ways remains, my favorite programming language - as a language. But the image-based development environment, and the performance of

Smalltalk was, and in many ways remains, my favorite programming language - as a language. But the image-based development environment, and the performance of the system, were both awful. As for message passing, and the potential for remote objects - well add CORBA into the mix of elegant, but ultimately unsustainable technologies alongside Smalltalk. The world was not ready for "pure" OO in the 80s, and I'm not sure it's ready now. Some things really are better in the mind, than in practice.