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Article:
  Smalltalk for Everyone Else
Subject:   Re: Its a lot to get used to
Date:   2006-09-28 10:49:44
From:   whartung
Response to: Its a lot to get used to

Yes, it's the classic language vs library syndrome. For all of the simplicity, dynamism, and exploratory nature of Squeak and Smalltalk, the key is mastering not just the language, but also the class library. And the class library is quite daunting.


For someone who's used to dealing with files filled with lines of code, learning a system 10 lines at a time through a browser window in a disjointed way can be quite difficult.
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  • Have you tried the powerful tools available
    2007-01-25 20:16:10  jacaetevha [View]

    In Squeak (not sure if other Smalltalks have something like it) there is the MethodFinder and the MessageNames dialog that help you learn/discover the system in wonderful ways. After finding the MethodFinder I can't hardly stand not to use it. It takes a receiver, an argument (or list of args), and an expected result and gives you what methods in the system would produce that result.

    Eg.

    MethodFinder methodFor: #((2 64)18446744073709551616. ).

    yields:
    '(data1 raisedTo: data2) (data1 raisedToInteger: data2) '

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