2010/12/7 Dale Henrichs <[email protected]>:
> Okay ... I've got another little rant...
>
> Smalltalk improves developer productivity ... pure and simple ... the reason
> that developing in Smalltalk is fun is that there is very little that gets in
> between the developer and the solution of a problem ... the debugger,
> inspector and all of the tools mean that a developer can focus on the problem
> at hand ... the dynamic nature of Smalltalk means that I can add instance
> variables and change interfaces without having to fight the compiler or the
> tools ... or lose track of what I am doing ....
>
Full, full agree. This is the more important difference I think.
> With that said (here comes the rant:) ... the _enterprise_ is not necessarily
> interested in developer productivity...productive developers is way down the
> list for the enterprise ... just look at the waste (not just in software) in
> a typical corporation ... (end of rant) ...
>
Again agree. A typical corp have lots of programmers, most of time
without a real coordination and not really worried by productivity
(even when they say the opposite).
> Smaller companies (not at the enterprise level) _are_ interested in developer
> productivity, so that should be the sweet spot for Smalltalk and there is
> work to be done to make Smalltalk more attractive to those Smaller companies
> and it seems that Pharo is headed in the right direction to become more
> attractive ... Note that many development groups within the enterprise
> operate like smaller companies, it's just that a CTO of a Fortune 500 company
> isn't going to wholesale switch his company from using Java to using
> Smalltalk (at least not this year:)...
>
I talked about this thing on my talk in Smalltalks2010, commenting my
own experience as an independent software producer and here, in this
context, the productiviy is a key factor (At least 2-1 against any
language I know, in my own experience).
The other factor is related with the understanding of the systems,
even the complex ones, were small companies as mine need to understand
the whole system to be developed/sold to a customer
Disclaimer to César: I know I'm not talking about Enterprise (Big
companies) but still.
> Oh and GemStone also has enterprise customers who don't necessarily advertise
> their Smalltalk success stories.
>
> Dale
>
> On Dec 6, 2010, at 11:00 PM, laurent laffont wrote:
>
>
> I agree on the feeling, I only think we all miss a very important
> tactical point here: in what realm is Smalltalk superior to other
> technologies?
>
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>
> Fun :)
>
> Laurent
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> The issue some cool and kicking creatures could have been done is not
> enough, we need also to be certain we can get newcomers and have them
> quickly up to speed in doing so. _That_ has lead other ('younger')
> languages to their present status.
>
> --
> Cesar Rabak
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