Creating an app for beginners in Smalltalk

Question

I am new to Smalltalk technology. My programming experience is related to C and C ++. I would like to understand the smalltalk design methodology. Can anyone suggest some simple real-time applications developed in smalltalk that can help beginners, like me, explore the possibilities of small ways. I am currently experimenting with a little training at Pharo.

Answer 1

One of the best resources for learning Smalltalk is to view the Smalltalk image under finger tips almost endlessly using the class browser. Almost the entire language and implementation of the IDE is available for viewing, even debugging completion. It might be overwhelming at first, at least it was for me, but it was worth the effort. Just don’t expect it to be whole literally in a few evenings. And if you are really interested, in Pharo and Squeak you can even browse and hack your own virtual machine.

For other resources, if you can get Kent Beck's “Smalltalk Design Patterns,” I wholeheartedly recommend it. Stephane Ducase has compiled a collection of free Smalltalk books: http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks.html . Although it has not been updated for some time, the late David N. Smith Smalltalk faq still brilliantly reveals many of the less obvious angles for new visitors, as well as for some less keen regular players like me.

In real-time applications, I do not think that there are some applications with a hard real-time core, such as turning on the ignition of an internal combustion engine. But there are many close to real-time applications, for example, I worked on an exchange trading system written in Smalltalk, but I am afraid that it is property. For very simple examples, I think Seaside includes a demo version of Comet counter, and I think Dolphin Smalltalk still includes a chat example.

To conclude, you will find that everything in Smalltalk is very small. From methods to design. So few that at the first moment you start to wonder, everything is simple and clear, but where is the “real material”? It takes time to accept that in Smalltalk, the real stuff is in this little stuff and its interaction. It's a little stretched, but Smalltalk should stretch Haiku like :)

Good luck and keep it small!

Answer 2

I would suggest that Pharo is currently the most widely used for building web applications and as a research platform. Check out Seaside to learn how to build web apps with Pharo. Download the image with one click on the sea and look at the sushi store inside.

If you intend to create more traditional graphics applications, this is possible. But it is becoming increasingly niche. Here's how to deploy applications created in Pharo.

Answer 3

I recently started using Faro myself. Just find what you would like to do, it's simple enough, and think about how to do it using the tools at your disposal. For example, I started rendering fractals and animating image transitions using (for example) the Form and Matrix classes.

You can also join one of the Pharo mailing lists, because they are very pleasant for beginners, just like ours, and just as useful.

Also: start reading Pharo as an example. And understand that a lot of Squeak documentation carries over to Pharo because Faro is forked from Squeak. (Too bad they don’t have complex rooms in Faro yet.)

Answer 4

I recommend getting a copy of Squeak. While "Squeak" is a Smalltalk dialect, I would highly recommend downloading the Squeak By Example pdf book for free. Another book, which is possibly Papa, Smalltalk 80 , aka Blue Book. CHEERS