clp (04/06/83)
Title: "Personal Dynamic Media" Authors: Alan Kay and Adele Goldberg Reference: Computer (USA), Vol 10, No 3, p 31-41 Date: March 1977 Summary: Describes some functions and uses of the Dynabook, a standalone notebook-sized personal computer which interacts thru high resolution visual I/O and high fidelity audio I/O. The Dynabook hopes to subsume old and to allow new forms of personal expression and organization. Such a meta-medium could not only simulate all traditional media but could interact dynamically with its users, opening a wide range of new possibilities. The current harware implementation is the Alto computer system, which includes removable hard disks, a 600 x 800 white screen, D/A, stereo equipment, normal and synthesizer keyboards, and a mouse. The language Smalltalk is the software basis for the environment, which hopes to provide extreme flexibility for tool-creating at the language level while providing the necessary default tools for simple tasks. All objects in this object-oriented environment should be able to present themselves visually to the user for manipulation or use, and all related operations upon different objects should appear similar. Examples given of tool-kits for animation (SHAZAM) and music composition (TWANG and OPUS) that were all similarly constructed and used in the environment lend support to the ideas. Children are considered as important users and have easily been able to draw, animate, play music, program, and create their own complicated kits with the present system. The feeling is that if children can learn and use the system naturally, it will be more universally learnable. This new medium hopes to present users with an easy, flexible, and more natural interface to computing power. The hope is to provide a paradigm for programming that, along with the future Dynabook, will allow everyone to have their own personal means of creative expression. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Title: "Microelectronics and the Personal Computer" Authors: Alan Kay Reference: Scientific American (USA), Vol 237, No 3, p 230-244 Date: September 1977 Summary: This article first covers much of what was said in "Personal Dynamic Media" as a backdrop to its several discussions. The Smalltalk language and environment is used for examples throughout the paper. Kay stresses the need for a system that is teachable to and "moldable" by non-experts, while still able to handle complexity. He speaks of the methods used to teach and of the accomplishments of Smalltalk's users, especially children. He notes the vital importance of software and says that it should use new ideas and interfaces to help present consistent views of the system at different levels of abstraction - a concept considered central to the learning and design of complex interactions. The increasingly complex use of symbols in a child's development is mirrored by the child's ability to understand different aspects of the Smalltalk environment at different ages. These stages of understanding form a natural structure for investigating the various levels of complexity in the Smalltalk environment. Smalltalk is first understood in an exploratory setting, trying out different things and seeing how objects respond and interact. Then these basic ideas can be extended to learn new levels in the complexity hierachy; for example, the notion of classes being objects that describe other objects. The seperation between levels of complexity is modeled by objects of greater and lesser generality. Messages between these objects bridge the gaps between levels. The natural views of parallelism and grouping of related objects and operations in Smalltalk is shown to be closely related to the way people think about the world outside of programming. The social effects of a powerful, easy-to-use personal computer such as the Dynabook is examined but the results are found to be unpredictable. New technology has always brought great possibility that yet may never be realized; for example, only a few take full advantage of the vast information available today in public libraries. However, an analogy between the introduction of the Dynabook and the introduction of the personal book is made: from hand copying by scribes (early computers) to limited production of large and some small volumes (the present) to widespread personal use of personal pocket-books (the future). Literacy made vast social changes to society and created a new so-called underprivileged group (of illterates); Dynabook's effect may be as great. Kay fears that even with widespread use, all the potential of the Dynabook will not be realized: that computers will be treated as "just machines" and the realm of "apparent nonsense" will be closed by this narrow view of the possibilities. The hope is that Dynabook will help us each fufill our own creative impulses, even if they seem like nonsense to Dynabook's creators. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here is some personal commentary: These articles are important in seeing the feelings that underlie Smalltalk, the language. It is part of a dream, one that many programmers share, of easy access to a method of expression (computing) that has been within our grasp for years but that has never been available to all. It is to this cause that Smalltalk was dedicated - to be easy to learn, understand, and use for all people; to help make the dream a reality. There is a purpose, a mission, underlying the language that you can feel in the articles: these people care about the language for the future that it holds. There is the strong belief that Smalltalk will be a part of the future, and an important part. Charles L. Perkins ...decvax!genrad!wjh12!clp