> Why do languages fall off the radar?
Because of the power of good ideas, aided sometimes by significant marketing
efforts.
> Why don't languages simply evolve?
On one hand inertia, and the "not invented here" syndrome. On the other,
creative people want to have their own child. On the third, like the snake's
skin constraining growth, old languages are built in such a way that
evolutionary changes cannot compare with revolutionary conceptual changes,
like object orientation.
> There was such an investment in
> Cobol. Why couldn't Sun have created the Java language with the
> Cobol?
Cobol is quite universally hated by non-Cobol programmers because of its Big
Iron Bureaucratic features.
> I was thinking of doing a .net compliant Smalltalk.
There is already a .net compliant ST, S++. It is a quite a net all by
itself. Some people are quite enthusiastic about it. Also, companies like
Cincom are working on a new, .net compliant version of their own VisualWorks
ST.
BTW, with all the talk about the demise of ST, the Cincom people report that
they are doing quite well. I don't know if this is an interesting market
artifact, denial, or a promising reality.
Victor
----- Original Message -----
From: "stedetro" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, December 27, 2004 12:24 PM
Subject: [XP] Smalltalks decline!
>
>
> After reading a few articles on XProgramming.com on the greatness of
> Smalltalk it got me wondering. Why do languages fall off the radar?
> Why don't languages simply evolve? There was such an investment in
> Cobol. Why couldn't Sun have created the Java language with the
> Cobol? Is it a human thing that causes languages to come and go?
>
> I was thinking of doing a .net compliant Smalltalk compiler but I
> don't know if something like that would be needed anymore.
>
> Stede
>
>
>
>
>
>
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